Support options for elderly father during bladder cancer radiotherapy

[MyDadIsTheGreatest]

My dad is in his late 80s and has recently been diagnosed with inoperable bladder cancer. He is due to start radiotherapy soon - probably 10 sessions.

My brother & I are trying to work out how best to support him but neither of us lives close by and it is very challenging for me to travel. My dad lives alone and has only a limited number of local people he can call on.

I'm trying to find some kind of support for my dad at/after his radiotherapy appointments. Ideally one of us would accompany him to the appointment and be at home with him the afternoon of each day of the (middayish) appointments to give support with coping with any side-effects, but that is likely to be impossible to arrange. I was wondering about cancer charities or other organisations who could provide that kind of in-person help for a few hours. The hospital have not said that he needs someone to provide "proper" care. So far my brother has been travelling up to accompany him to appointments, but I suspect this will be unsustainable throughout the radiotherapy sessions.

I'd welcome any suggestions of where to start looking please. He lives in Peterborough.

The hospital may be able to provide transport. They did to my dad in a similar situation. My dad didn't actually need much support after the radiotherapy sessions, just felt a bit sore after in the area he had had the therapy, but not like chemo with sickness etc. If the hospital don't provide transport, Marie-Curie provide companion support which might help if it is in your area. A quick Google has given me this too - https://www.emedgroup.co.uk/cambridgeshire/ though I know nothing about them. Best of luck to your dad.

Thanks, that's really helpful.