Interview with Cancer Connect's Sue Peacock

Good Health TV interviews Sue Peacock a breast cancer survivor and volunteer with Cancer Council Victoria's Cancer Connect phone peer support program. Sue explains how the program works, who it helps and who can volunteer.

Transcript:

Host: Today we're talking to Sue Peacock. Thank you so much for joining us. Sue is a volunteer with Cancer Council Victoria's Cancer Connect program. She joined the program over 5 years ago after attending a cancer survivor's forum conducted by the Cancer Council. Now, can you tell us more about yourself and also your contribution towards Cancer Council Victoria?

Sue Peacock: Yes, I was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly 12 years ago now. I went through the treatment - surgery and chemotherapy and the like that most people know about, and I was about 5 or 6 years out from my treatment and felt a need to maintain a connection with the cancer community and make sure I was up-to-date with the different research that was going on.

I noticed and advertisement for a survivors forum being run by Cancer Council Victoria and so I attended that and met with a lot of people who were experiencing similar sorts of things as myself as I was going though the other side of that black tunnel that we entered into.

At that forum I was made aware of the fact that they were recruiting people to be volunteers for the Cancer Connect program. So I went through the training and became a volunteer for that program where we provide contact for newly diagnosed people who want to chat to someone about their experience.

Host: So it's one-on-one?

Sue Peacock: Yes it is. Someone will ring the Cancer Helpline and will talk to one of the nurses on the line there, but quite often they're wanting to talk with someone who has actually been through this experience or the nurse might feel that they would get some benefit from that, so they'll be put in contact with someone who matches the situation of the caller as closely as possible. As a result of that, phone contact will be made. We can talk through what the person's going through and we can relate that back to our own experience, and maybe we can help them in some way to make that journey that little bit easier.

Host: Well you represent living proof that there is hope. It must be very comforting for people for people who have just been diagnosed to speak to somebody like yourself because I know that there are many adjustments that a person would need to make - practical things that you would never think of unless you faced the same sort of diagnosis and treatment you've been through.

Sue Peacock: That's right. A lot of the information people get when they are first diagnosed is medical-style often and the treatments and those sorts of things. But we do have to deal with things on a day-to-day basis. In my case I'm talking to women with breast cancer and quite often women will busy themselves in organising everyone else's lives and so forth, and all the support that's around them and trying to deal with everybody.

But there can be some practical issues that they face as well. They tend to set those aside but often in a conversation on the phone they will be mentioned. So, little things like the practicalities of how to deal with scarred areas, the wound and that sort of thing, how to get out and about and just some of the tricks we're able to share. How I might have gotten through a particular situation - it can be quite simple but it can maybe free that person up to enjoy their life a little bit better.

Host: Sue, your experience relate to breast cancer specifically. What happens if someone such as a man contacts the service.

Sue: Well, anyone can contact the service - male or female. The Cancer Connect program has volunteers that cover a whole range of cancers. Obviously there are many, many types of cancer and you can't have someone covering everything. Most of the more well known cancers are covered and there are volunteers that people can be put in contact with. But even in instances where there may not be someone to contact, in instances where it's a bit more rare that needs to be discussed, well, some of the things are associated with cancer go across the whole range and so the Cancer Council will, through this program, connect you with someone who can actually help with a specific question that person might have.

Host: So what is your message to anyone who has been recently diagnosed with cancer?

Sue Peacock: Well, you're going to be presented with a whole range of information. You get the show bag of information and so forth from medical professionals and the family and carers around you, but I think a lot of people are looking to get through that minefield. The Cancer Council Victoria provides this Helpline on 13 11 20. People can ring in and can be put in contact with someone that can actually talk to them about the experience and maybe help them in some small way in dealing with this journey that they're about to face.

Host: Now how can our viewers today help you do this wonderful work?

Sue Peacock: Well, like everything, these things take resources. All of us work as volunteers and give our time very freely and we are more than happy to do that. Of course there are resources that need to be used and one of the ways in which the Cancer Connect program is funded is through Australia's Biggest Morning Tea. We have that coming up on the 25th of May and through the money that's raised through that program it helps to support the work that we're doing.

Host: So everyone should have a cuppa to help you out.

Sue Peacock: That's right.

Host: If you want to host a Australia's Biggest Morning Tea you can contact the Cancer Council and they can give you the kit that need and then you invite your friends; whether it be at the workplace, at home, anywhere you like really, big or small, decadent or very basic; enjoy a cuppa with your friends or workmates and of course you'll be helping people like Sue help maybe people like us one day.

Well thanks Sue for talking about your experience with illness and your ongoing involvement with Cancer Council Victoria, it truly is inspirational. I hope this segment can also help the community with a greater understanding and acceptance of cancer. Thank you for your community work and for your time.

Sue Peacock: Thank you.

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