A two-time cancer survivor, Bradley Gudger, has launched Alike, a pioneering cancer community support app, following his own battle with cancer. He was first diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia in 2013, aged 19 and relapsed after treatment. Whilst isolated in a hospital ward awaiting a bone marrow transplant in 2018,he was inspired to create a space where the cancer community could connect.
With approximately 3 million people living with cancer in the UK, the Alike app aims to be a companion throughout diagnosis and treatment. Users connect based on a mixture of diagnosis, age, location, stories and interests, providing individuals with a group of patients and survivors they can interact with on their own terms. The app is also a hub that provides information and advice and showcases user-generated content. As an app dedicated to a vulnerable population, Alike’s safety and privacy policies are designed with their users specifically in mind.
The app has already had some serious financial backing. In 2024, Macmillan Cancer Support, the UK’s leading cancer charity, provided funding to bring the new form of digital peer support to everyone diagnosed with cancer in the UK. The app has also received major financial backing from Charles Wilson CBE, former CEO of Booker and Executive Director of Tesco UK, having provided strategic guidance and personally donated over £200,000 since 2019.
The Alike team is made up of cancer survivors so uniquely, this is a platform for the cancer community, by the cancer community. Research has found that loneliness increases the likelihood of mortality by 26% [1]
Gudger said: “Our app is about addressing that loneliness and giving people the space to talk about what they’re going through with others who understand. We called it Alike because it’s about finding what brings us together as a community. We’re all individuals, different but the same – we’re all alike.”
Anthony Cunliffe, Lead Medical Adviser at Macmillan Cancer Support, says: “We’re very pleased to be working with Alike as the charity takes steps to combat loneliness and isolation for people with cancer. At Macmillan, we do whatever it takes to ensure people with cancer get the best support possible and we’re proud to be a part of this exciting innovation. It is natural to feel lonely and isolated at different times during your diagnosis and treatment. Sometimes you still feel like this after treatment finishes. The Alike app offers people with cancer a new way to connect with someone who understands what you’re going through, allowing people to share common feelings and coping strategies and hopefully create a more positive experience.”
Charles Wilson CBE, former CEO of Booker and Executive Director of Tesco UK, said: “Alike have done a superb job of developing an App that really works. They have done this on a tight budget. I have been really impressed by how prudently they have used funds to enact their positive mission.”
Gudger’s vision is to work with content providers to be the one stop shop of social media for cancer patients. His aim is to partner with the NHS and grow to become the main provider of cancer peer support in the UK. The team has already partnered with the Children and Young People’s Cancer Coalition, allowing Alike to support young people referred to Young Lives vs Cancer social workers and those being treated on Teenage Cancer Trust wards.
CALL FOR FURTHER FUNDING
To maintain and further scale the app, Gudger requires additional funding of £100,000.
No matter how many times we try to make it work – Our’s is a mission in its purest form, something we will not give up on, until our job is done: Creating a world where no one is lonely because of cancer. We can only do that with support from you.