Hywel's story

Hywel Jones was diagnosed with head and neck cancer in March 2007 and came into contact with Tenovus' Specialist Advisers during his radiotherapy treatment at Velindre hospital in Cardiff.

this is Hywel's story

"I had radiotherapy five days a week for six weeks, and each journey to the hospital was a 20 mile round-trip from my home. If my treatment was later in the day, I'd often get stuck in rush hour which added to the stress of the journey.

Tenovus Mobile Cancer Support Unit is a fantastic idea and will bring lots of benefits to cancer patients. My radiotherapy treatment was very intense and often debilitating, especially towards the end, and it was hard to do anything else with my spare time. Having treatment closer to home would have made my life much easier.

My four children are aged between 10 and 23 so they all look after each other, but anyone with younger children must find travelling back and forth to hospital very demanding with the added pressure of finding childcare.

Tenovus were very supportive throughout my treatment and explained what sort of help was available - including disability allowance which I wasn't aware we would qualify for. I had never been ill before in my life and being faced with long term illness you don't know where to go to. Tenovus was very good - the team helped us fill in the forms and access the right support.

When you have cancer you have to deal with the long term problem. If you are off work with the flu then you know you will eventually be back in work, but with cancer you don't know how long you will need financial support for. It's nice to know that the support is out there from Tenovus which deals with cancer patients on a daily basis so the team there knows how to get the right help, closer to home."