A psychologist and a mother of a survivor collect stories and tips to help your family through the childhood cancer experience.

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Product Description

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, mother-daughter team Leigh Woznick and Carol Goodheart 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.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #251631 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 359 pages

Anna T. Meadows, MD, Senior Oncologist, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
"This book is an excellent roadmap for families...faced with the shattering experience of having a child with cancer."

Gerald P. Koocher, PhD, Chief Psychologist, Children's Hospital
"The authors...make the the struggle with childhood cancer just a little bit easier."

Book Info
(APA LifeTools) Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. PA. Consumer text discusses how to explain the disease to the child and siblings, how to communicate a child's needs to the hospital staff, reducing physical side effects, coping, psychological help, financial and school issues, and fostering a child's development and self-esteem.

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Customer Reviews

Very helpful book
My son's friend was diagnosed 1 week ago with Leukemia. I am so thankful that I came across this book for this family. This book is a must have for anyone who is going thru this diagosis. It is full of information, tips and inspirational quotes from everyday people who have experienced cancer first hand.

Well written and researched
This book is written by a parent and grandparent of a childhood cancer survivor and has many quotations from other parents whose children have or had cancer. They've been there...they know what you are going through. Bulleted lists of quick tips and tricks are extremely helpful for busy parents who have little time for reading while in the throes of treatment. For those times when a parent finds they have too much time on their hands, like during admissions and while waiting umpteen hours in hospital waiting rooms, the book reads easily and is full of practical coping advice and resources. I only wish that this book had been available when my son was on treatment!

Excellent book for parents of children with cancer.
I highly recommend this book for parents of children with cancer. It provides precisely what the title promises: 'A practical guide to help families cope.' Unfortunately, this book was not available until my son was off-treatment for cancer; today, turning the pages of the book , I find the reading comforting, cozy . . . kind of like sitting down and talking with a good friend. The authors know what I felt during those first stressful years of treatment, and if I had had the book then, I would have felt both comforted and armed with methods to deal with the psychological turmoil that comes with hearing those words "your child has cancer". Woznick and Goodheart include useful chapters on relieving pain and side effects, encouraging child development during treatment, and building self-esteem in your child, as well as a chapter on dying and grieving. The book also has an excellent resource section, forty-four pages of annotated listings of helpful organizations, support groups, web sites, books, and videos.