Ratification Date: 25/07/2025
Next Review Date: 25/07/2027
What help is there if my cancer can’t be treated?
Sadly, not all cancers can be treated to achieve a cure. Your medical team will let you know if this is the case. While this is not news that anyone wants to hear, it is important to remember that you are not on your own. If you are in this situation, health care professionals often use the term of having a “palliative diagnosis”.
This means that your cancer cannot be cured, but you may still be offered treatment and supportive care to keep you comfortable and symptom free as much as possible. Sometimes this situation is also called having a life-limiting or incurable cancer diagnosis. You may feel shocked and upset at receiving a palliative diagnosis if your cancer cannot be cured. There is emotional and practical support to help you to deal with the news, talk to others, and prepare for end of life:
- Cancer Research UK has advice about how to deal with a cancer that cannot be cured.
- Marie Curie offers information for people who have been diagnosed with a cancer that cannot be cured and help for those supporting them. You will find lots of information including what to expect. Marie Curie also offers booklets on things like planning ahead and managing pain.
- The NHS has information on coping with a cancer that cannot be cured.
- Macmillan Cancer Support has an easy read booklet on who can help you if you are dying.
- In these Cancer Research UK videos, Gareth talks about his palliative cancer diagnosis and how he is living with it, while Steve and his wife Liza share their
Telling loved ones
- Talking about your cancer diagnosis when it cannot be cured can be tough and upsetting. In this film from Marie Curie, Mark shares his experience.
- Marie Curie also has information on telling children.
- If you have children, breaking the news to them can be especially difficult. Hope Support Services has some helpful tips about how to do it.
Palliative care
If you have a cancer that cannot be cured, you will be offered palliative care. This is used to improve quality of life when the cancer cannot be cured. Palliative care offers relief, support, and comfort to people, and it can be given at home or outside the home, such as a hospital. You can find out more about palliative care here:
- What is palliative care?
- Palliative treatment for cancer – Cancer Research UK
- Amber’s Army is a Norfolk based family charity, aiming to ‘Create Rainbows in the Darkest of Days’ for Norfolk families who have a child with a palliative cancer diagnosis.
End of life support
There is lots of information online that can help you to prepare for the end of life if your cancer cannot be cured.
- Macmillan Cancer Support offers information including sorting out financial things and thinking about the care you want.
- The NHS offers a guide to end of life care, covering things such as planning ahead, what to expect and how to look after your wellbeing.
- Cancer Research UK has information on death and dying including making plans before you die.
- Macmillan has an easy read booklet on end of life.
- Macmillan also has an easy read booklet on choosing where to die.
- You can find information on end of life here in several languages, including Arabic, Bengali, Chinese traditional, Dari, Farsi, Gujarati, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Welsh.
Get help
- Marie Curie can offer you support. You can call 0800 090 2309.
- The Big C charity is here for you. You can visit their website or call their support team 0800 092 7640, Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm.
- You can call the Macmillan Cancer Support Line for free on 0808 239 1557, 7 days a week, 8am – 8pm.
- If you or someone close to you has been affected by cancer and you have questions, it is easy to call Cancer Research UK nurses on freephone 0808 800 4040 Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm. They cannot diagnose you or give a medical opinion.