The web Directory of Information Materials for People Affected by Cancer is regularly updated and currently has details of over 1,900 booklets, leaflets, books and audiovisual materials for people affected by cancer. Most have been published in the last five years but we have included some older ones that are still useful.
Macmillan Cancer Support
Many people find it difficult to eat enough to maintain their weight during and after treatment for cancer. This booklet has suggestions on how to help boost energy and protein levels when appetite is poor. It explains healthy eating and includes sample menus and a suggested shopping list of items to stock up on.
CLIC Sargent
Lucy is five years old when she is diagnosed with cancer. This illustrated, colour storybook describes what happens when she has to go to the hospital for tests and treatment. The story follows Lucy from first feeling ill, through diagnosis and treatment, to recovery and returning to normal life.
Public Health England
Easy read booklet about bowel scope screening.
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
This booklet describes what radiotherapy is, how it works, the benefits and risks, how treatment is planned, and what happens during treatment. It also discusses the possible side-effects, how people feel during treatment, and what happens after treatment is finished.
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
This booklet explains what a central venous access device (CVAD) is and describes the advantages and disadvantages of the different types, namely peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs); skin-tunnelled catheters; and implanted ports.
Public Health England
This leaflet is for trans (transgender) and non-binary people in England. It tells you about the adult NHS screening programmes that are available in England and explains who we invite for screening.
Coronet (Hodder & Stoughton)
Award-winning TV comedy writer Carl Gorham's account of his bereavement is by turns deeply moving and darkly humorous. Part love story, part widower's diary, part tales of single parenting, it tells of his wife's cancer, her premature death and his attempts to rebuild his life afterwards with his six -year old daughter. Realised in a series of vivid snapshots, it takes the reader on an extraordinary journey from Oxford to Australia, from Norfolk to Hong Kong through fear, despair, pain and anger to hope, laughter and renewal. The Owl at the Window is a fresh and original exploration of what it means to lose a partner in your forties, and how Carl learned to live again. (Publisher)
Pomelo Pip
Benny’s Hat follows Friz’s story from when she first learns of her brother’s illness, right through to his death and beyond. With its realistic but hopeful and gentle tone, readers will see that it is normal to feel a whole range of emotions –sad, worried, confused, angry and happy, even during the darkest of times. (Publisher)
Hodder & Stoughton
In 2015, former England football star Rio Ferdinand suddenly and tragically lost his wife and soulmate Rebecca, aged 34, to cancer. It was a profound shock and Rio found himself struggling to cope not just with the pain of his grief, but also with his new role as both mum and dad to their three young children. Rio's BBC1 documentary, Being Mum and Dad, touched everyone who watched it and won huge praise for the honesty and bravery he showed in talking about his emotions and experiences. His book now shares the story of meeting, marrying and losing Rebecca, his own and the family's grief - as well as the advice and support that get him through each day as they strive to piece themselves back together. Thinking Out Loud is written in the hope that he can inspire others struggling with loss and grief to find the help they need through this most difficult of times. (Publisher)
The Text Publishing Company (UK) Ltd
In January 2015 Nina was diagnosed with breast cancer, and it metastasised later that year. She was thirty-eight years old; her mother had died only a few months earlier from multiple myeloma. Nina Riggs grew up in a contemplative family: her great-great-great-grandfather was Ralph Waldo Emerson, and she was raised to turn to his essays for 'guidance, inspiration, and something to push against'. THE BRIGHT HOUR is Nina's intimate, unflinching account of 'living with death in the room'. She tells her story in a series of absurd, poignant and often hilarious vignettes drawn from a life that has 'no real future or arc left to it, yet still goes on as if it does'. This unforgettable memoir leads the reader into the innermost chambers of the writer's life: into the mind and heart, the work and home and family, of a young woman alternately seeking to make peace with and raging against the reality of her approaching death. (Publisher)
Creative Pumpkin Publishing
From GP and hospice doctor Patrick Fitzgerald and bestselling author Sarah Rayner (Making Friends with Anxiety, One Moment, One Morning) comes a warm and wise companion to help support you and those caring for you in the last months, weeks and days of life. From the shock of diagnosis, through treatment options and symptom control to the process of dying itself, Making Peace with the End of Life tackles these sensitive issues with compassion and honesty. Full of practical advice and important contact information, it will also help to demystify how the NHS and Social Services work, so you can access the best support more easily. And, drawing on Patrick’s extensive clinical experience, it also looks at how communicating your wishes to those involved in your care can give a feeling of safety and control over whatever happens in the future. There are tips on self-nurturing using diet, light exercise and alternative therapies, plus guidance on how to care for your own mental health – including advice for carers. And for those who are anxious about what lies ahead, patient stories and quotes from those who’ve been there help to explain what to expect, thereby easing worry and panic so you feel less alone. Offset by Sarah’s joyful illustrations, the result is a clear and compassionate guide that aims to make these complex and distressing issues less confusing and overwhelming, so each individual can live the life they have left with a greater sense of comfort and peace. (Publisher)
William Collins
In this unprecedented book, palliative medicine pioneer Dr Kathryn Mannix explores the biggest taboo in our society and the only certainty we all share: death. Told through a series of beautifully crafted stories taken from nearly four decades of clinical practice, her book answers the most intimate questions about the process of dying with touching honesty and humanity. She makes a compelling case for the therapeutic power of approaching death not with trepidation but with openness, clarity and understanding. With the End in Mind is a book for us all: the grieving and bereaved, ill and healthy. Open these pages and you will find stories about people who are like you, and like people you know and love. You will meet Holly, who danced her last day away; Eric, the retired head teacher who, even with Motor Neurone Disease, gets things done; loving, tender-hearted Nelly and Joe, each living a lonely lie to save their beloved from distress; and Sylvie, 19, dying of leukaemia, sewing a cushion for her mum to hug by the fire after she has died. These are just four of the book’s thirty-odd stories of normal humans, dying normal human deaths. They show how the dying embrace living not because they are unusual or brave, but because that’s what humans do. By turns touching, tragic, at times funny and always wise, they offer us illumination, models for action, and hope. Read this book and you’ll be better prepared for life as well as death. (Publisher)
Bloodaxe Books
To be alive is to be inside the wave, always travelling until it breaks and is gone. These poems are concerned with the borderline between the living and the dead - the underworld and the human living world - and the exquisitely intense being of both. They possess a spare, eloquent lyricism as they explore the bliss and anguish of the voyage. Inside the Wave, Helen Dunmore's tenth and final book of poetry. Her final poem, 'Hold out your arms', written shortly before her death and not included in the first printing of Inside the Wave, has now been added to the reprint. (Publisher)
Saraband
When Dr Mary Gunn was diagnosed with cancer, her first reaction was fear, and to fight the disease aggressively for the sake of not only herself but her young children and husband. But when it came back – and turned out to be incurable – she knew that she couldn’t live the rest of her life in fear. Mary embraced a new approach to life: to accept all the joy and sorrow, safety and danger, certainty and unpredictability… in essence, to live freely. In our uncertain times, when it’s difficult not to feel the fear, Dr Mary Gunn’s remarkable memoir offers mindfulness tools for resilience, and shows how we can all use acceptance, compassion and love to live courageously, magnificently. Backed up by many years of experience as both a doctor and a patient, her story will inspire you to let go of fear, love life and live well. (Publisher)
Hodder & Stoughton
Abi has been given the second chance she never expected, and now she's trying to get her life - and her family - back on track after facing the worst [colon cancer]. But it's hard to trust in happiness again, and reconnecting with her husband John proves more challenging than she thought. Can you really go back to 'normal' after thinking you're going to lose one another? With Abi's son Seb struggling with a secret of his own, the three of them are in danger of falling apart just when they need each other most. But how do you pick up the pieces of a family still suffering emotional shockwaves? And can Abi bring the people she loves most in the world back together again... before it's too late? (Publisher)
Austin Macauley
Rachel and Simon have been married for a long time. They are both parents and grandparents. They love Portugal, but life isn’t as perfect as it appears on the surface. Rachel had breast cancer and as time goes on, family circumstances threaten the very fabric of the family. Is their family unit strong enough to survive what the future has in store for Rachel, Simon and the rest of their family? (Publisher)
North Staffordshire Press
Flo has two of the most fun and competitive grandads in the world who can never resist the chance to get one over on the other. That is until Flo is faced with some devastating news when one of her grandads is diagnosed with a serious illness. Although her world is turned upside down, Flo continues to be inspired by her grandad whose sheer will, determination and positive attitude will not be diminished no matter what. So join Flo as she embarks on an emotional roller coaster as she laughs, cries, makes new friends and discovers what it truly means to never, ever give up. The Grandad Grand Prix is a fictional story inspired by true events and a must read for all age groups. (Publisher)
Istros Books
Hair Everywhere is the story of one family and how they manage to cope when the mother is diagnosed with cancer. It is a delicate tale that balances itself between the generations, revealing their strengths and weaknesses in times of trouble. It is also a story about how roles within a family can change when things become challenging, due to sickness or death, allowing some to grow and others to fade. Ultimately, this is a book about life; full of humour and absurdity as well as sadness, and set against an everyday background where the ordinary takes on new significance and colour. Tea Tulic’s debut novel is a brave glance at the human condition. (Publisher)
Clare C Davison
“Tomorrow, you will feel a little bit better.” From a loving childhood, belonging to a large family with no history of breast cancer, Clare was alarmed at age 42 to accidentally discover she had the disease. As a self-employed single mum, Clare documents her memoirs of personal experience and knowledge of the cruel decisions made for the aggressive treatments and hair loss ahead. With an inner strength of humour, Clare’s first book includes her lunch arrangements with Peter Andre, a cake nationally released in her honour, an experience of public speaking, media attention and continued fundraising with a moving excerpt from her son. (Publisher)
Urostomy Association
Guidelines for people with a neobladder in the event of problems with neobladder function, urinary tract infections, or bleeding.
Urostomy Association
Guidelines for people with an ileal conduit (urostomy) in the event of problems such as urinary tract infections, bleeding, discharge, a hernia or sore skin.
Urostomy Association
This leaflet describes bladder reconstruction as an alternative to a urostomy. It explains how the new bladder is made and how it works, and gives advice on preparing for surgery and life afterwards.
Urostomy Association
This leaflet explains why a urinary infection might occur following a urostomy, how to prevent an infection, and how to obtain a urine sample. It also briefly describes the symptoms and treatment and what happens in the case of recurrent infections.
Urostomy Association
Guidance on diet and physical activity (including swimming) following a urostomy.
Urostomy Association
Leaflet explaining what a urostomy is and why it is necessary. Includes information on the different pouches available.
Urostomy Association
This leaflet has information about travelling with a urostomy. It covers travel by car, train or by air, travel insurance, RADAR keys, 'No waiting' cards, and medical identification bracelets.
Urostomy Association
Advice and support for men who have concerns about sex and fertility following surgery for a urostomy.
Franklin Watts
This picture book uses the first-person testimony of Naomi, a 10-year-old girl with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Naomi explains what it was like to find out she had cancer, when she lost all her hair and what it was like spending so much time in hospital. The intimate and direct impact of using Naomi’s real first-person testimony encourages children to empathise with her situation, and to understand how some children’s lives are very different from their own. Naomi talks about school, family, friends and explains the confusion and chaos caused by cancer. This BAFTA award-winning story was originally produced as an animation for the BBC. Aimed at children aged 9 and up. (Publisher)
Oakleigh House Limited
Receiving a life-changing diagnosis can be overwhelming. This resource aims to you find your way through. It has exercises to help you focus one day at a time, audio recordings to help you relax and a daily planner to get you through difficult times.
Amaranth Books
As the baby-boomers get their bus passes, old age is rising up the public agenda. Yet the media concentrate either on the spectacular achievements of nonagenarians or the horrors of elder abuse in rogue care homes. Most people would rather know what ageing will mean for them. While bookshops carry plenty of guides on childcare, no book explains comprehensively what ageing means and how to cope with its challenges. To fill this gap Marion Shoard has written a 1,160-page guide. The book is based partly on experience with her own parents and help she has given other older people, but primarily on extensive research into all aspects of the subject all over the UK. (Publishers)
Sarah West
Mummy’s Got a Poorly is an engaging, thought-provoking story, told through the eyes of a five-year-old girl whose mummy is unwell. It is aimed at the young children of parents with a serious illness to support them through a difficult time. Whilst not mentioning the ‘C’ word it does cover the effects that medicine such as chemotherapy can have and also provides lots of opportunities for children to ask questions and discuss their feelings about their own parent’s illness. (Publisher)
Johns Hopkins University Press
For a decade The Breast Reconstruction Guidebook has been the best resource on this topic for women who have had a mastectomy. Equal parts science and support, it is filled with stories that illustrate the emotional and physical components of breast reconstruction. Readers will find advice about choosing a doctor and a procedure, insurance and payment issues, how to prepare for surgery, and what to expect during recovery. Expert commentary by physicians and insights from patients inform this book, as does the exhaustive research by the author, a two-time breast cancer survivor who has twice had reconstructive surgery. New in this edition are discussions of: the pros and cons of saline and silicone implants; solutions for post-lumpectomy cosmetic problems; new immediate-delayed reconstruction when post-mastectomy radiation may be required; the benefits and limitations of nipple-sparing mastectomy; considerations for direct-to-implant reconstruction; newly developed tissue flap procedures; who can best apply nipple and areola tattoos and why tattoos may not last; enriching fat with stem cells so it stays in the breast; patient-controlled tissue expansion; how insurance and health care reform affect reconstruction. (Publisher)
Urostomy Association
Guidelines for people with a continent urinary diversion (Mitrofanoff) in the event of problems with pouch function, urinary tract infections, bleeding or discharge.
Prostate Cancer UK
Z-card with information from the booklet 'Know your prostate. A guide to common prostate problems'. It describes the prostate gland, the changes to look out for, benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostatitis and prostate cancer (what it is, the symptoms and the risk factors).
Urostomy Association
This leaflet has information about continent urinary diversion, which avoids the need to wear a urostomy pouch over the stoma to collect urine. It describes pre-operative and post-operative care, and care of the new reservoir.
Weidenfeld and Nicholson
Danny Baker's third volume of memoirs barrels along at the same cracking pace as its predecessors, the bestselling Going to Sea in a Sieve (the inspiration for the major TV series Cradle to Grave and subsequent nationwide tour) and Going off Alarming. With his trademark exuberance, he recalls the years which included six years' involvement in the massive TV hit TFI Friday ('piling it up with hellzapoppin' ideas') - during which time he stalked John Cleese in New York, entertained David Bowie and Paul McCartney, bizarrely reunites with Sir Michael Caine, gets befriended by Peter O'Toole and becomes a member of Led Zeppelin for 35 minutes. However, the tales are not reliant on celebrity alone, and the book comes packed with the usual quota of Baker family jewels, including Spud's attitude to doctors, Danny's trip to Amsterdam to get stoned for the first time (he fails), getting caught up in football rioting, and the now infamous 'kaboom' of an outburst following his despatch from BBC London. And then there's the cancer. Spoiler alert: this is the one in which he almost dies. Further spoiler alert: he doesn't. (Publisher)
Hodder & Stoughton
When film producer Martino Sclavi began experiencing intense headaches, he attributed them to his frenetic lifestyle. As it turned out, he had grade 4 brain cancer and was given 18 months to live. After undergoing brain surgery - while awake - Martino found he had lost the ability to recognise words. His response was to close his eyes and begin to move his fingers across the keyboard to write this, an account of life before diagnosis and since. Defying all predictions Martino is still very much alive, words read out to him by the monotone of a computerised voice he calls Alex. But he must now live in a new way. This book - that he has written but cannot read - charts the effects of his experience: on his relationship with his young son, his marriage, his work and with himself. In the wake of his illness, everything must be reconfigured and Martino is made to question the habits, dreams and beliefs of his old life and confront the present. What he finds is strange and beautiful. Searching for the words between life and death, Sclavi shows that with determination and a subtle, persistent sense of humour, it is possible to change the story of our lives. (Publisher)
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Snibbles and Big Tree are best friends! They have always hung out together, and Snibbles loves Big Tree very much. When Big Tree unexpectedly falls ill with woodworm, Snibbles is very upset and angry. The illness is a very bad one and Big Tree does not feel well and doesn't want to play for a long time. Poor Snibbles! He wants Big Tree to get better, but he feels as if there is nothing he can do. What can Snibbles and his friends do to help Big Tree through his treatment and recovery? This beautifully illustrated storybook describes the anger and emotion that many children encounter when a close relative or friend is diagnosed with a long-term illness, such as cancer. The story of Big Tree depicts how things are often out of your control and sets out effective strategies for dealing with these emotions. This story features loveable characters and vivid illustrations, as well as activities for children aged 5+ to complete with their parents or professionals in times of illness and loss. (Publisher)
Urostomy Association
After an operation to form a urostomy stoma, some women may have difficulties with their sexuality and sexual function. This leaflet covers topics such as sexual function, sexual relations, contraception, pregnancy, and childbirth.
Urostomy Association
This leaflet gives advice on the following problems: leaks, infection, mucus in the urine, hernias, stones, bleeding from the stoma and bleeding from the urethra. It also has tips on taking a urine sample, diet, night drainage systems, and travelling.
hospice information
This publication was originally written to help with arrangements for ‘final journeys’. However, much of the information also applies to those who would like to take a holiday when seriously ill.
The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust
This booklet describes what chemotherapy is, how it works, how treatment is planned and carried out, and possible side-effects; for example, anaemia, infection, appetite changes, nausea, skin changes, hair loss, and fertility problems. It also briefly discusses issues such as emotional well-being and fatigue. Includes further sources of information and support.
British Lung Foundation
This booklet explains what breathlessness is, the causes of acute and chronic breathlessness, the tests that might be necessary and management of breathlessness. It is not cancer specific.
British Lung Foundation
This illustrated leaflet has guidance for people with lung disease on how to enjoy a fulfilling sex life.
Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group
This illustrated booklet tells the story of siblings Tom and Jess, whose little brother Ben has cancer. It describes how they cope with the illness and the changes it brings. It is aimed at children under nine.
Coronet (Hodder & Stoughton)
This book does not offer a cure for cancer. It offers a cure for your fear of cancer. Both memoir and self-help book, this is the remarkable chronicle of a passage from 'terminal' diagnosis to exuberant wellness in just a few months. The Cancer Whisperer reverses our traditional adversarial relationship with cancer by teaching us how to listen to it; how to be healed by it as well as seek to cure it; and how to be emotionally free of illness even when physically curtailed. Living on the frontier between her fierce will to live and necessary willingness to die, Sophie - now thriving with cancer - shares her journey with searing honesty, unapologetic vulnerability and intelligent pragmatism. Alongside rare insights into a condition now affecting approximately one in three people, she challenges the mental conditioning we need to overcome to redefine our narratives about cancer. As 'the cancer whisperer', she offers a groundbreaking practical guide that will encourage cancer patients to: Direct their own treatment while preserving their personhood in a system that tends to see them as patients more than people. Engage with fear, anger and grief in healthy and healing ways instead of toughing it out, trying to be positive or collapsing into despair. Radically shift from being a cancer victim to a cancer listener-to seeing cancer less as a disease than as a symptom of other underlying causes, and engaging proactively with whatever changes it calls on them to make. Discover what the author calls 'the whispering, the reaching into a well of darkness and finding your hands painted with light'. Inspired, wise and moving, this book is as unflinching as Lisa Lynch's The C Word, as uplifting as Kris Carr's Crazy, Sexy Cancer, and carries us to a new threshold in our relationship with cancer, strengthening our ability to meet it with courage, creativity, gratitude and grace. (Publisher)
Children's Cancer and Leukaemia Group
This factsheet gives an overview of breast cancer risk after treatment for childhood cancer. Written to accompany the CCLG booklet "Aftercure: A guide for teenage and young adult survivors of childhood cancer".
Pancreatic Cancer Action
Created by dietitians and chefs at University College Cork, this recipe book provides advice on how best to combat cancer-induced weight loss and other eating related problems whilst undergoing pancreatic cancer treatment. It features over 80 quick, easy and energy dense recipes for nourishing meals and snacks that have been created specifically for people who find it hard to maintain a healthy weight.
Christie Hospital NHS Trust
Advice about what to eat and what not to eat following treatment.
Prostate Cancer UK
This pocket guide provides information about black men's risk of prostate cancer and what they can do about it.
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