| Carers & advanced cancer | First reactions | Dealing with changes |
| Palliative care | Common symptoms | Complementary & unproven therapies |
| Death & dying |
Taken from 
When Cancer Won't Go Away booklet for Carers (760kb)
If you're reading this, you may be caring for and supporting an adult whose cancer won't go away and isn't likely to be cured.
Health professionals use several different names to describe cancer that's advanced beyond the early stages, including advanced, secondary, metastatic and progressive cancer. Sometimes, health professionals don't use a special name. On this site we use the term ‘advanced cancer'.
However anyone refers to it, life-threatening illness is an extremely difficult and stressful event for everybody involved. We particularly want to acknowledge the difficulties for you, the carer.
A carer is someone who provides physical and emotional support to someone who is ill or disabled. You may be providing care for a few hours a week or 24 hours a day. You might be the partner (husband, wife, girlfriend or boyfriend), son, daughter, relative, friend or neighbour of a person with cancer. Some people don't see themselves as ‘carers': what they do is part of the relationship they share with the person with cancer.
We hope you find this information helpful: it was produced with the assistance and advice of health professionals and people who've cared for someone with advanced cancer.
For those with cancer, see When Cancer Won't Go Away: For People Whose Cancer Has Advanced.
If you find this information useful, pass it on to others!
Each type of cancer develops in its own way. Some cancers grow very slowly, others tend to advance rapidly, and some are unpredictable. Some types are known to respond well to treatment in most people, while other types are more difficult to treat.
Although many early cancers can be cured, many people now living with cancer will at some time in the future die of their disease. Knowing more about the cancer can help make sense of symptoms and the treatments that may be offered.
Advanced cancer is a term commonly used to describe:
These terms are explained below.
Cancer is the name for abnormal cells that divide and multiply uncontrollably. When cancer begins, these cells usually develop into a mass (or tumour ). This mass of cells is known as the primary cancer .
If the primary cancer isn't treated, or can't be treated, a few cancer cells can break away and move through the bloodstream or lymphatic system to other parts of the body. There, they divide and multiply uncontrollably and form other masses of abnormal cells (metastases ). When cancer spreads from the place it started, to grow in other parts of the body, it's known as secondary or metastatic cancer.
Advanced cancer usually can't be cured; however, often it can be treated to slow the growth and spread of the cancer, sometimes for months or years, and reduce its symptoms. Treatment can keep some cancers under control for long periods and is especially helpful in controlling pain.
