Healthtalkonline was started in 2001 by a GP named Dr. Ann McPherson following her own experience of breast cancer. Although Ann had all the medical knowledge she needed, what she really wanted was to hear from other people who had been through the same and find out how they had coped with the impact of the illness on their everyday lives.

So Ann established Healthtalkonline to provide people with accurate and balanced information about their (or a loved one’s) illness in the words of people who know what it’s like. So far 2,500 people have shared their experiences with us, including Ann herself who talked about her pancreatic cancer shortly before she passed away from the disease in 2011.

Feedback about the stories on the website tells us that they are ‘reassuring’, ’empowering’ and ‘good to know that you’re not the only one’. But we’ve also heard positive feedback from people who’ve shared their (often deeply personal) experiences; ‘sharing my story helped me to be more positive about my life’ and ‘I enjoyed taking part in the interview and knowing that it would help others made it worthwhile’.

You can find out which new Healthtalkonline projects we are recruiting participants for here.