By sharing your story you can help us highlight the experiences of those affected by cancer. Your story helps us raise awareness about the impact of cancer and helps reassure people that they are not alone.
We would like to hear from anyone with a close experience of cancer who has something to say. It could be your own experience, your partner's or that of a close friend or relative. If you have a message you'd like to get across, especially if you feel cancer research has had an impact on your life, we are really keen to hear from you. All kinds of stories from people from all walks of life can help us to raise awareness of cancer research, which can potentially save lives. Read some examples of stories.
It's really up to you! Cancer Research UK will get in touch with you if we receive a request you may be able to help with. You can share your story in a wide variety of ways, ranging from giving interviews to local newspapers, providing a short quote in a newsletter or speaking at an event. We understand that you may have different commitments but whatever help you're able to give is really appreciated.
It's important that you are prepared to talk openly about your cancer experience. It also helps if you are passionate about raising awareness. The Patient Liaison and Regional Press team will be able to talk you through exactly what's involved in each request and will try to answer any questions you may have.

In most cases you will need to share your name, town, age and story along with a recent photograph. It's a good idea for you to talk to members of your family about this to make sure that they are comfortable with you sharing your story. You will always have the option of saying no to any particular request.

No. If you decide to share your story through the media, we will only pass on your contact details to individual journalists with your consent. We work closely with journalists and do our best to ensure that they understand the sensitive nature of working with people affected by cancer. We will also treat any information you give us confidentially and make sure we comply with data protection legislation.
We very much hope that it will, however this is something that we cannot guarantee. Sometimes people give interviews and these are not printed or broadcast. This does not mean that you haven't given a good interview, it might be that another major news event has happened at the same time.
We are keen to make sure that anything written about you is factually correct and is approved by you. When you provide your story for a Cancer Research UK publication or website you will generally be able to approve any copy that is written about you. However, it's very unusual that the external media (such as your local newspaper) would send you their copy for approval – largely due to very tight deadlines.
If you choose to share your story you will not receive any payment from the charity. It's also unusual for newspapers to pay people for telling their story. However, if you're offered money for sharing your story, this is an agreement between you and the media title and not something that we would be involved with.
You will be able to claim for reasonable travel and food expenses so that you are not out of pocket.

Sharing your experiences can be invaluable, so please consider adding your story, advice or a poem to the your story section of our CancerHelp UK website

Sadly we do not have the resources or the links to put you in touch with publishers.