Cornwall Cancer Café and Podcast

21 July 2026 — lia-rogers

When someone is affected by cancer, whether personally or through someone they love, life can feel suddenly unfamiliar. The need for connection, for understanding, and for somewhere to simply be yourself becomes incredibly important. That’s where Cornwall Cancer Café steps in.

The project was established by Matthi Clarke as he was recovering from Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He realised he needed a focus to rebuild his life after two relapses in quick succession and four separate types of treatment. He was just about to launch the podcast a year ago when he was hit with pneumonia and a collapse of his immune system. Things have improved since then and he felt that now is the time to take his lived-experience and his broadcast journalism training to produce something which gives back to his community.

Cornwall Cancer Café was created with a clear and heartfelt purpose, to support people across Cornwall (and further afield) through open, honest, and compassionate conversation. The idea grew from a recognition that, alongside clinical care, people often need something more human. A space where they can talk freely, listen, and feel less alone. So, with the help of friends and colleagues, Matthi set up Winning Against Cancer CIC which won funding to operate the podcast for its first year.

At its heart, Cornwall Cancer Café Podcast offers supportive conversations, real stories, thoughtful discussions, and gentle insights from people living with cancer and providing supportive projects. It’s not clinical. It’s not overwhelming. It’s human.

The approach is intentionally simple and inclusive. By offering content online through the podcast and digital platforms, people can access support in their own time, in their own space, whether that’s at home, during a walk, or sitting in a waiting room. Efforts are made to keep everything clear, calm, and easy to engage with, without jargon or barriers. It’s about making support feel approachable rather than daunting.

Founder, Matthi Clarke says: “Perhaps the most rewarding part of the work for me is hearing that something small has made a difference: a listener feeling less alone, or maybe someone saying that it sounded like them.”

Cornwall Cancer Cafe Podcast is run by a small dedicated team. Emma Coombe is one of them and has taken the role of co-presenter. Emma knows only too well the anxiety, worry and testing times that come with a cancer diagnosis, as she is being treated for melanoma.

The team also pulls from the organisational expertise of Toni Eyriey – a director of Winning Against Cancer CIC. She has also run Cornwall’s business magazine for many years with her husband Nick. Toni knows all about the stresses of living with cancer after supporting Matthi through his treatment, with transport to and from hospital and bringing needed items from home into hospital during protracted treatment stays.

The whole team is shaped by simple but strong values: compassion, honesty, and community.

Cornwall Cancer Café Podcast is supported through funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.

In difficult times, having somewhere to turn, even quietly, can make all the difference. Cornwall Cancer Café offers just that. A place to listen, to reflect, and to feel a little less alone.