CANCER diagnosis and the journey which follows it can often be daunting and overwhelming for both the patients and their loved ones.

But trained volunteers from Macmillan Cancer Support are now ready to offer emotional support to anyone affected by cancer every Wednesday at The Foundry, in Barrhead.

The team at the drop-in sessions will be there to offer an impartial listening ear to anyone who is struggling to cope following a diagnosis.

And they will be able to direct people to other organisations who will be able to help them with things such as finances and planning for the future if people feel they don’t know where to turn.

Barrhead News: Connor O’Boyle is project lead for Macmillan Cancer SupportConnor O’Boyle is project lead for Macmillan Cancer Support

Conor O’Boyle, project lead for Macmillan, said: “We want to give anyone affected by cancer the opportunity to come along and speak to one of our trained volunteers who can offer emotional support.

“We can also signpost people to partner agencies who can give, for example, financial advice.

“Sessions like these can make a huge difference to people. Simply having someone to speak to who isn’t directly affected by the diagnosis can be so valuable.

“For people who have received treatment, they sometimes feel almost institutionalised because they’ve been in hospital so much and they struggle to have confidence to speak to people. We can try to help with that.”

The drop-in sessions are a follow-up project to the Move More programme currently running at The Foundry every Thursday morning.

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This offers a gentle exercise class to anyone affected by cancer who is looking to keep themselves active.

People can access the drop-in sessions from 10.30am to 2.30pm every Wednesday and, when volunteers are not there on other days, people can still get hold of brochures with information on different types of cancer and treatment, as well as how to sort out things like travel insurance after you have received a diagnosis.

The sessions are run in partnership with East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure. To find out more, email macmillan@ercultureandleisure.org.