Welcome! We are sorry to hear that cancer has made an appearance in your life, but we're glad that you found us. If you would like to share your story you can start by registering. From there, complete your profile, share it with your friends and family and when you are ready, you can send friend quests and openly communicate with others.

If you’re not ready to register (it’s ok – take your time), feel free to browse through the site and get inspired by reading other stories. Keep in mind, if you want to read deeper into someone’s profile, post in the Discussions section, and connect with others to engage in open communications, you will need to register unless they set their profile to public.

o YAY! We are so happy that you are interested in writing for us. Please contact info@sonyFoundation.org.au.

You Can Connect is a social support network for young people focused on helping people deal with cancer more effectively, by connecting the people who have been there with the people who are there right now – Survivors, Patients, and Supporters. This means, that providing some basic personal information will help us match you with the people who need your help – and if you need help, the people who can help you.

Why share? To put it simply: because your story – no matter how small you think it is – can change someone’s life. In the sharing of our stories there is an inevitable sharing of strength.

You Can Connect isn’t a professional support site. If you need to speak with a counsellor or services to support your journey we have an extensive list of organisations that can help you – click here for more information.

If you or someone you know needs urgent help, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14

Sorry about that! Please contact us and we will promptly add what is missing.

It is up to you how much information you wish to share. We will NOT distribute any personally identifiable information to any outside source. It will remain private and under your control.

You Can Connect is for anyone aged 15-35 years old who has been touched by cancer in any way. It is for:

Patients: People who are battling cancer now.
Survivors: People who have beaten cancer.
Caregivers: Those who are on the frontlines of a loved one's battle.
Supporters: Friends, family or anyone who knows someone dealing with cancer.

You Can Connect is an initiative by Sony Foundation and Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute to leverage the successful and awarded US Community online platform IHadCancer.com to allow the Australian youth cancer community access to a similar community. You Can’s mission is to ensure that no young person has to face their cancer journey alone. You Can Connect is a virtual You Can Centre that aims to break down barriers of isolation by providing access to peer support.

The IHadCancer founder, Mailet Lopez was diagnosed with cancer at age 33. She had a great doctor and very supportive family and friends, but still found herself overwhelmed and alone in fighting the disease. She wanted to connect with someone who she could relate to – someone around her age, from the same location, someone with a similar background – but there was no easy way to do so. As the co-founder of an award winning digital media agency, Squeaky Wheel Media, she used her skills in website usability and the resources of her company to create IHadCancer. IHadCancer has been recognised as the best Community Website three times at the Webby Digital Awards.

You Can Connect is a comprehensive social networking site with the sole mission of building a community among cancer patient, survivors, their friends and supporters aged 15-35 years old. You Can Connect harnesses the power of social media to connect you with someone who’s been in your shoes. There are other youth cancer networking sites out there, and also support services online however, You Can Connect is unique as it is connecting Australian youth to a global community on an award winning community online platform.

Yes. To participate and join the You Can Connect community you must be 15-35 years of age or older.

No, You Can Connect is completely free to use.            

Your username serves multiple purposes:

If you prefer to keep your name private from anyone you’re not connected to you can opt to use your username instead. You can decide this during the registration process or change your settings once you log in.

Your username also serves as your own personal URL (example: www.youcan.org.au/YOUR-USERNAME) making it easier to share with your family and friends.

You can use your username or email address to log in to the site.

A username CANNOT be changed, so choose wisely.

First, head over to the “Find Someone” page, where you can search by age, gender, type of cancer, year diagnosed, location and type of user. Connect with other users by click the “Connect” button on their profile. Or, you can start reading blogs, discussion questions and dear cancer posts to see who you can relate to, and connect with them that way!

If you are a brand new member and you don’t see any activity on your newsfeed, that means you don’t have enough active connections yet. Once you start making friends who share update, it will all appear on that page, as well as your own activity.

You can share information, view each other’s full profiles and openly communicate with one another.        

The Dear Cancer section is for sending a message to cancer. Here you can say whatever you feel like saying to cancer and get it off your chest while also getting the support of the full community. To participate you will need to be registered. Go on give it a try.

You can view the discussions and topics on You Can Connect at anytime. However, you can only post to the Discussions section after you register. You can begin by asking a new question or searching what others are saying.

Our new notifications section will alert you anytime you receive a comment or a hug on any of your activity. You will see an exclamation point on top of the icon whenever there is a new notification.        

Our team of community managers moderates all site activity prevent any negative, slandering or offensive comments and to ensure the absence of medical propaganda. If you see something that you don’t like, please let us know.

Anyone who is on the site for the wrong reason will be banned from the site. A Report Abuse link is available from all profiles. If you see anything inappropriate please let us know.

This is your story. It is up to you how much information you choose to share - as much or as little you would like. Keep in mind that you can control you sees this information. You can set your profile to open (completely public), YCC Only (anyone registered for You Can Connect) or YCC Connections only (only people you've sent or accepted a connection request from on You Can Connect) .

Yes! Please encourage friends and family to sign up as supporters or caregivers. Their stories are important too.            

You Can Connect and IHadCancer.com is not meant to advise, recommend, diagnose, or be a substitute for medical advice. Seek the advice of your Clinician or Youth Cancer Service team regarding your health. Content and images may not be reproduced or distributed, unless explicit permission has been provided in writing by I Had Cancer, LLC. For more information read our Terms and Conditions.

Currently we are only partnered with our sister company IHadCancer. We aim to be very selective of who we partner with to allow maximum privacy and minimum disturbance for our users. If there are partnerships you think we should be associated with email us and we’ll look into it.