Living with Childhood Cancer: A Practical Guide to Help Families Cope

Like a natural disaster, the diagnosis that your child has cancer can leave you and your family feeling helpless.

• How do you explain the disease to the child and to his or her siblings?
• How can you communicate your child's needs to the hospital staff?
• What are the best ways to reduce the physical side effects and the emotional distress of treatment?How will you, your child or teenager, and the rest of your family cope with cancer, and what can you do to help?
• When and where do you find good psychological help for your child or your family?
• How do you manage financial and school issues?
• How can you foster your child's development and self-esteem?

More than 12,000 American children will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and roughly 75% will survive. In addition to excellent medical care, their survival depends on a strong support network, which may include parents, siblings, extended family members, friends and neighbors, classmates and teachers. In this down-to-earth guidebook, the authors draw on their own family's experience with cancer as well as their professional expertise and stories from others to help families address the psychological impact of cancer. The result is a book filled with sound emotional guidance, useful information, and practical advice for families coping with cancer.

 

Leigh A. Woznick is the parent of a cancer survivor. She is also a charter member of the Family Advisory Council at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr. Carol Goodheart, EdD, is a licensed psychologist specializing in health psychology. She was cochair of the American Psychological Association's Congressional Initiative on Serious Illness and is the cochair of its Task Force on Health. Dr. Goodheart is a clinical supervisor at Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology.