Calls for better post-cancer care to give isolated survivors support

After about a year of fighting against stage two Hodgkin's lymphoma, Carly Gogel was somewhat lost when she found out she had beaten cancer.

"You're now deemed in remission, and you can go back to normal life now," she remembered being told at her last appointment.

"I was like, 'Hang on a minute, I don't know what that looks like anymore.'

"I feel different, I look different, I haven't been at full-time work for months now.

"It probably was the hardest journey for me from that day onwards for about probably six to 12 months."

While every cancer journey was unique, experts said Ms Gogel was far from the only one to experience this post-cancer struggle.

"Some people say cancer has become like their full-time job during treatment," Flinders University psycho-oncology expert Lisa Beatty said.

"They almost don't really start to process the emotional or mental health impact of cancer until they've got to the point they've finished treatment."

Mental health overlooked

Ms Gogel, who lives at Naracoorte in SA's south east, said the journey had taken a mental toll on her, and she struggled with expectations that she could go back to "normal".

"I was probably very fortunate to have people around me that supported me extremely well when I returned to work," she said.

"There are plenty of people out there that probably don't have that much support."

Breast Cancer Network Australia CEO Kirsten Pilatti said mental health was an oft-overlooked part of living with cancer.

"It's about sitting back and asking the questions about how they really are, how are they feeling, how has their life changed, and then putting a plan together," she said.

Range of support needed

Ms Gogel's mother reached out to her cancer nurse and received counselling through Canteen.

"It was just to try and get me back on track and work out perspectives, and learning to take a breath and appreciate how big of a process I've just gone through," she said.

Ms Gogel said knowing there were people who support a patient both during and after cancer could make a world of difference mentally.

"But you know that you are loved and supported and there are people cheering for you in your corner."

Professor Beatty said online supports were available for people managing their mental health during and after cancer.

"When we did a big trial of this, we found that over a third of people who signed up for it were from rural areas," she said.

"It meets a particular need for people who may have fewer services and supports available."

But she said more funding was required to develop supports.

"We know we can make a massive difference to people's overall quality of life, but also some of their cancer outcomes too," she said.