Brad Gudger, diagnosed with leukaemia as a 19-year-old, tells us how he has used his own experiences to establish a charity and launch an app for cancer patients aged 18+.
It seems such an obvious thing to say, but cancer completely changed my life. In 2013, I was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia, which eventually required me to have a bone marrow transplant in 2018. When I got my diagnosis, it felt like I’d been hit by a train, had the rug pulled from under my feet, and the world had stopped, all at once. It sounds dramatic, but there’s no easy way to explain that experience.
The shock at my diagnosis mostly came from the fact that I didn’t really know anything about leukaemia. As cancer wasn’t spoken about in school, or in conversations with friends or family, I’d no idea that some of the symptoms I was experiencing - including fatigue, night sweats, random bruises and rapid weight loss - should have worried me.
The loneliness of cancer treatment
I had chemotherapy, and was on the road to recovery when, in 2017, the cancer relapsed. Leaving my life in London behind and returning to Yorkshire to stay with my parents, I remember feeling really angry about how unfair it was. After rebuilding my life, I had to go through it all again: the harsh treatment and the loneliness. As a cancer patient, loneliness was something I was all too aware of. When I originally went through treatment, I felt lonely being in the rural North Yorkshire village I grew up in. Later, I felt just as lonely in the heart of central London, where I worked.
The story of Alike is rooted in my own diagnosis. Before I thought of creating an app, I always knew I wanted to create a youth-led charity that provided dedicated peer support for people impacted by cancer. I’ve been fortunate to build a group of friends who have experienced cancer and share their experiences, but I only found this group when I’d finished my second round of treatment. I know what it’s like to be stuck in a room, feeling the worst you’ve ever felt, and having no one to talk to who understands.
The idea
Not wanting anyone else to feel like I’d felt, I started by talking to friends who had survived cancer, to validate that it wasn’t just me who felt this way. The overwhelming response was that everyone agreed with me, we only knew each other because we’d gone to the right events at the right time. And what’s extraordinary is that despite 83% of young people diagnosed with cancer experiencing loneliness during and after treatment – something exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic - and nearly four in five wanting to interact online with other young people in similar situations, there’s no digital network to
connect them.
For me, speaking to other young people with cancer was essential, empowering and life-saving. So, I wanted to offer that opportunity to others who were going through a similar experience to the one I had. Our app is about stopping the loneliness that all too often accompanies a cancer diagnosis, and giving people the space to talk about what they’re going through with others who understand.
There are some great organisations that help our community, but if you’re in a rural area, or less mobile, or facing life after treatment, it can be much harder to make those connections. I’m not an expert in developing apps or charities, but I am an expert in lived experience. When I don’t have skills in certain areas, I reach out to experts in the field. This is what makes Alike special.
Alike isn’t my charity - it’s by and for everyone in the community. We called it Alike because it’s not about cancer, it’s about finding what brings us together as a community. We’re all individuals, different but the same - we’re all alike.
About Alike
Alike is designed to be a companion throughout diagnosis and treatment. Users connect based on a mixture of diagnosis, stories and interest, providing individuals with a group of patients and survivors they can interact with on their own terms. It’s also a hub that provides information on a young person’s level and showcases user-generated content.
Recent statistics from the app’s monitoring shows that users are most active in the evenings on weeknights and weekends. Cancer patients are seeking continued support into the nights where their cancer treatments and in-person appointments have finished for the day. Data from the app has shown us that:
- 86% of users on the Alike app are active within a three-day period, meaning they are engaging right away
- This shows the community on Alike is there, with app users wanting to join in conversations, be it voicing their day-to-day life and questions about treatment and conditions, or raising concerns for peers to reassure them
- 58% of the users are most active during the evenings after 5:30pm, as well as weekends after 3pm, meaning people who have or have had cancer may show that they are seeking extra support, distraction and advice they can’t get as easily outside of working hours
