Coinciding with the launch of BT's Work Fit awareness programme for employees, Claire Rayner, journalist and author, writes in the Winter edition of BTtoday, the magazine for retired BT people, about the work of the charity Cancerbackup and her own experience of the disease.

How would you cope if cancer affected your family?

We don't like to think about it until it happens but one in three of us will develop cancer at some point in our lives, and the risk increases as we get older. It is therefore likely that all of us will face, or already have faced, the reality of cancer either a partner, a family member or close friend, or receiving the diagnosis ourselves.

This obviously can be a difficult time and it is important for everyone involved that there should be a strong team in place to help people through diagnosis and treatment. The team is likely to include consultants, nurse specialists and other health workers, but also partners, children and other close friends and family who can offer personal support and care, or just be someone to talk to.

Our children are often busy working and maybe raising their own children and so may not have a lot of time. And in the modern world with job opportunities across the country and the world, they may live many miles away. Telephone calls, email and the internet are a good way to stay in contact but it's not the same as sitting down together and talking face-to-face.

More and more people are going online at home sending email, photos and videos of each other back and forth in seconds. As well as contacting friends and family, the internet is a huge resource of information on all kinds of subjects, including your health. Cancerbackup runs a comprehensive website with more than 6,500 pages of information on all aspects of cancer from the practical and emotional sides to living with cancer (wwwncerbackup).

There is though, a lot of poor and inaccurate information on the internet, and you should be careful that any information you use is from a trusted source. Cancerbackup relies on evidence based information and is truly trustworthy with all the information reviewed and revised regularly. If you're not sure where information is coming from, you can't be sure that it is reliable. False or misleading information on cancer can be very upsetting, sometimes offering too gloomy or overly optimistic information about cancer.

Cancerbackup's information is also available in over 70 booklets and 300 fact sheets and on audio cassette tape, all of which are provided free by the charity to patients, relatives or friends. And Cancerbackup also runs a free telephone helpline on 0808 800 1234 via which you can obtain leaflets and fact sheets, and talk to a specialist nurse who will be ready to answer any question on any cancer.

In addition to collecting the valuable information you need, It is important to attend all screening appointments, and ask to continue them if you are over the age of being invited automatically. You can ask for screening appointments to continue and I would recommend that you do. Also check yourself regularly for abnormalities of breasts, testicles, moles or any other symptoms and report anything out of the ordinary to your doctor immediately.

When I developed breast cancer in 2001 I had the good fortune to be referred to a one-stop unit where I had a mammogram, a needle biopsy (painless for me!) and an ultrasound investigation. And I was given my diagnosis just a couple of hours after arriving for my appointment.

That helped enormously. It is sitting around waiting for a diagnosis for days or even weeks which is most distressing; so do ask your GP to find out if there is such a unit in your area.

I was treated with surgery and am now completely clear of the disease. I see my consultant only once a year now (that happens after 5 years of more frequent checks). I never even think about cancer now from one year's appointment to the next. And there are many, many patients like me.

So what ever you do, don't panic and don't despair; modern cancer treatments are improving all the time. And with the help of Cancerbackup to make sure you have all the info you need, you will feel much better.

Yours

Claire Rayner

cancerbackup