A practical guidebook for healthcare practitioners on how best to support children, young people and families through parental cancer.

Let's face it, cancer sucks. This book provides real-life advice from real-life teens designed to help teens live with a parent who is fighting cancer. One million American teenagers live with a parent who is fighting cancer. It's a hard blow for those already navigating high school, preparing for college, and becoming increasingly independent. Author Maya Silver was 15 when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. She and her dad, Marc, have combined their family's personal experience with advice from dozens of medical professionals and real stories from 100 teens—all going through the same thing Maya did. The topic of cancer can be difficult to approach, but in a highly designed, engaging style, this book gives practical guidance that includes: How to talk about the diagnosis (and what does diagnosis even mean, anyway?) The best outlets for stress (punching a wall is not a great one, but should it happen, there are instructions for a patch job) How to deal with friends (especially one the ones with 'pity eyes') Whether to tell the teachers and guidance counselors and what they should know (how not to get embarrassed in class) What happens in a therapy session and how to find a support group if you want one A special section for parents also gives tips on strategies for sharing the news and explaining cancer to a child, making sure your child doesn't become the parent, what to do if the outlook is grim, and tips for how to live life after cancer. My Parent Has Cancer and It Really Sucks allows teens to see that they are not alone. That no matter how rough things get, they will get through this difficult time. That everything they're feeling is ok. Essays from Gilda Radner's "Gilda's Club" annual contest are an especially poignant and moving testimony of how other teens dealt with their family's situation. Praise for My Parent Has Cancer and It Really Sucks: "Wisely crafted into a wonderfully warm, engaging and informative book that reads like a chat with a group of friends with helpful advice from the experts." —Paula K. Rauch MD, Director of the Marjorie E. Korff Parenting At a Challenging Time Program "A must read for parents, kids, teachers and medical staff who know anyone with cancer. You will learn something on every page." —Anna Gottlieb, MPA, Founder and CEO Gilda's Club Seattle "This book is a 'must have' for oncologists, cancer treatment centers and families with teenagers." —Kathleen McCue, MA, LSW, CCLS, Director of the Children's Program at The Gathering Place, Cleveland, OH "My Parent Has Cancer and It Really Sucks provides a much-needed toolkit for teens coping with a parent's cancer." —Jane Saccaro, CEO of Camp Kesem, a camp for children who have a parent with cancer

This book is an accessible, sensitive, and evidence-based resource for partners, parents, and other family members navigating the heartache and challenges of caring for a young adult with cancer. When a young person you love is diagnosed with cancer, the impacts on partners and parents is life-altering. In this book, Anne Katz offers her unique perspective as a counselor to help family members as their child or partner goes through diagnosis, treatment, and the years of survivorship. Interweaving clinical practice with evidence-based tips and interventions, each chapter presents the story of a young person with cancer and how the illness impacts those that love them with Dr. Katz providing gentle, targeted advice throughout. The chapters include individuals from diverse backgrounds, such as people across different ages, gender identities, ethnicities, and sexual orientations, as well as reflective questions, with topics covering treatment decision-making, how to care during treatment, letting go, and a resource section pointing readers to where they can seek help. Written by a leading voice in the field of cancer, the stories and advice provided in this book will help all families and partners apply the lessons learnt to their lived experiences. It will be also of interest to health care providers working with these families, such as clinical social workers and nurses.

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.

Explains to parents how to talk to children to help them cope when their mother or father is diagnosed with cancer, in a book that also has an illustrated activities section.

For families with a seriously ill parent--advice on helping your children cope from two leading Harvard psychiatrists Based on a Massachusetts General Hospital program, Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child When a Parent is Sick covers how you can address children's concerns when a parent is seriously ill, how to determine how children with different temperaments are really feeling and how to draw them out, ways to ensure the child's financial and emotional security and reassure the child that he or she will be taken care of.

At some point in our lives, many of us will face the crisis of an unexpected illness. For parents, the fear, anxiety and confusion resulting from a cancer diagnosis can be particularly devastating. When A Parent Has Cancer is a book for families written from the heart of experience. A mother, physician, and cancer survivor, Dr Wendy Harpham offers clear, direct, and sympathetic advice for parents challenged with the task of raising normal, healthy children while they struggle with a potentially life–threatening disease. Dr Harpham lays the groundwork of her book with specific plans for helping children through the upheaval of a parent's diagnosis and treatment, remission and recovery, and if necessary, confronting the possibility of death. She emphasises the importance of being honest with children about the gravity of the illness, while assuring them that their basic needs will always be met. Included is Becky and the Worry Cup, an illustrated children's book that tells the story of a seven–year–old girl's experiences with her mother's cancer.