Cancer coaching: making the most of life with and beyond cancer | Guest Post by Suze Mellor

05 June 2025 — jessica-bailey

In this guest blog post, Suze Mellor – NHS GP, coach, and founder of Big Me, Little c – shares her insights on life after a stage 4 melanoma diagnosis and treatment, and explores how coaching can support people in reclaiming a sense of control, purpose, and identity.

When I had stage 4 melanoma in my 20s, one of things I struggled with was the psychology of how powerful this thing inside you was. It had the potential to let you live or die. It can feel like you don’t have control, and that this thing that has happened to you now defines you and your life choices. If you’re now at the point where you’re living with the illness or have finished treatment, it can be hard to shake that feeling.

You are bigger than your cancer.

Just read that sentence again and let it sink in.

Big Me, Little c has been named this way deliberately as our language around the “Big C” can perpetuate those feelings of loss of control and fear. I’m not trying to minimise the experience you’ve gone through – quite the opposite. A cancer experience is extremely challenging in so many ways and when you’ve finished treatment you can be left with physical, emotional, psychological, financial, relational scars. Coaching can help you view those things in a different light. You have the opportunity to work out what’s important to you, and how to make you feel like you again with a life full of meaning, purpose and joy.

Big Me, Little c offers 1:1 coaching online, looking into different aspects of cancer survivorship (life with and beyond cancer). I’m an NHS GP and transformational coach as well as someone who has experienced cancer myself. It’s very flexible, individualised and tailored to your needs. If you’ve had a cancer diagnosis and feel held back by it in any way, it would be worth considering whether coaching might be helpful for you.

The cancer survivorship coaching course gives time to process what you’ve been through, where you’re at now, what your goals are, and how cancer is getting in the way of all of that. It gently broaches the idea of planning for the future, and what your next steps in life might be. You can focus the coaching around anything that’s important to you. Whether its your career, relationships, psychological wellbeing, financial security or long term physical health that’s taken a knock from your cancer, you can bring this to the coaching room and get back on track. As a patient I get it, as a GP I see this in my patients, and as a coach I’m here for you. Is it time to give it a go, take that leap and see what happens?

Here’s a testimonial from one of my clients: “Suze was incredible at equipping me with the tools and skills I needed to navigate life after cancer, especially during the added challenge of a recent redundancy at work. Through her guidance, I was able to identify my strengths and core values, and I am truly grateful for her unwavering support during such a challenging time.”

You can find out more on my website bigmelittlec.co.uk, Instagram account @bigmelittlec, newsletter (sign up on the website), or email bigmelittlec@outlook.com.