When your child has cancer, you will do anything—ANYTHING to find treatment that promises healing.
Everywhere you turn, people know just how to cure your precious little one. “Have you tried eating naturally?” “Maybe you should give mega doses of vitamins” “What about the dog de-wormer that I read that helped the man with liver cancer?”
They also disagree with your treatment choices, “Why aren’t you heading to ____hospital?” “Have you looked into skipping chemotherapy? I would never give that to my child”.
They have opinions of how you should feed your child, “You know, sugar feeds cancer; try going sugar-free” or “I would give the baby anything she wants during a time like this”.
They even have very un-scientific reasons why your child was afflicted with cancer in the first place. “You know they say vaccines cause childhood cancer?” “Maybe you took something when you were pregnant? “Could there be something in your water that caused this?”
Despite all the well-meaning comments—and yes, I do believe people think their suggestions are helping. The reality is we “cancer parents” already beat ourselves up with these kinds of questions every single day.
- Why did my child get cancer?
- Why us?
- What did we do wrong?
- How is this fair?
- How will we survive?
- What if she dies?
So, what if you are me? What if your child was diagnosed with cancer at the age of two? What if every treatment you gave had no effect on the cancer? What if you knew every treatment she took would make her deathly ill, in the attempt to save her life? What if your family was falling apart, you had no time together, one parent living in a hospital, and your child’s siblings confused about what is going on?
What if you heard those dreaded words, “I’m sorry, there is nothing else we can do. It looks like she will die.”
Please know…
This is the face of childhood cancer.
Not every story has a happy ending.
Go Gold in September
Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
