Cancer podcast hosts urge people to get support

Two people from Cornwall who met while receiving support for cancer treatment have started a podcast to raise awareness of the support available.

Matthew Clarke, a Non Hodgkin Lymphoma survivor, and Emma Coombe, who is having treatment for melanoma, co-present a podcast called the Cornwall Cancer Cafe Podcast.

Clarke said in February he was awarded National Lottery Community funding for the show, which was launched in March for a year.

The weekly episodes aimed to share other people's experiences to help people with cancer feel less alone, the pair said.

Clarke said: "Every person is different, every cancer case is different and every experience is different."

He said some people struggled to "get their heads around taking support" and he found a lot of men were offered support but did not go for it and get the benefits of different projects.

"I want to talk about those projects as well and encourage people to give them a try," he said.

"It's that recognition of what I have benefited from and realisation how important it is that has made me think how I can give back."

Clarke said Cornwall was the right place to have the podcast because it had "very diverse communities", including rural and town areas.

"People in some very rural communities don't get the chance to go into places like the Cove Centre at the Royal Cornwall Hospital... and they don't get that support because they can't get there.

"This is for the people who can't get to those, and also for the people who, when you're going through cancer, you wake up three o'clock in the morning and need some sort of support."

Coombe met Clarke at the Cove during music therapy sessions.

She said it "piqued my interest because I'm a musician so along I went and there was Matthew".

She said: "Three or four sessions later, we were all getting to know each other... and we just got chatting and he explained that he was doing this podcast and I thought it was a fantastic thing to do."

She added she asked if there was anything she could do and the next thing she knew she was being recorded and interviewed.

Coombe said she thought a lot of people did not think they deserved to receive the support that was on offer.

"We really want to encourage people to accept that there is support there and please go and take the support and talk.

"I think, when you're first diagnosed with cancer, it can be a very lonely time...

"When I found that actually the Cove is there... I can still remember the first time I walked in - it was life-changing.

"Suddenly your family becomes bigger because they're there looking after you."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.