Tips on writing to friends and family
Spoil your friend; a letter is like a hand-made gift.
You’ll need their address – we often don’t have addresses anymore so you may need to ask.
Don’t be daunted – write a short note or postcard first saying that you’ve heard the news, you’re thinking of them and you will write a letter soon.
Collect stories, quotes, witty anecdotes, poems. All these things can fill your letters. If you can make your friend smile and feel connected with your world, they will feel less isolated in their own.
Let the gossip flow – keep them in touch with life at work or social gossip, giving them a link to the real world. You could even start a humorous day-to-day journal of what’s been happening in the office and include it in your letters.
Be mindful of where they are in their cancer journey – in the early stages you may want to ask about their treatments and plans but in the later stages this may be less appropriate.
Don’t feel guilty that you’re having fun – tell your friend about films you’ve seen, concerts you’ve been to, books you’ve read. They want to hear about normal lives.
Write from the heart- no matter how clumsy the words, if it’s from the heart, you can’t go wrong.
Get your letter to the post box – whether it’s handwritten or typed, as long as it makes its way into an envelope and into the post, you’ve done a wonderful thing
Some people want to be private about their diagnosis – it’s important to respect this.
