Dr. Nathan: Cancer is going to have a huge impact on your life. The stress of dealing with the disease, the
stress of being taken out of your normal routine is obviously very, very difficult. And what's really
important is to have a group of people around you who can support you through that.
Sue: We call it the roller coaster. So one day you're up and things are good and the next day something really
unpredictable happens and you're on a downward trend. I know my parents, they took it really hard.
No one ever wants to hear that your child has cancer, obviously. I know my mom had to leave like
my room crying most days and that was hard for me. My brothers as well, like I don't think they know.
They knew kind of like what to do, so they try their best to like cheer me up and like give
me things that I wanted kind of thing, because they didn't know how else to like support me I
guess. But uh, like whenever I had the chance I'd, I remind her that I was fighting it and I was gonna
be okay and she didn't have to worry about me. It's tough on everyone but we got through it, brought us together.
We go on more family trips now because like we know, we appreciate that time together more.
Hasina: Like. Just like with everyday normal life you have to like your good days and your bad days. Like some
days you feel really depressed, then like you just don't know what to do you don't want to like do
anything you don't really want to talk to anyone, you just want to stay by yourself.
Alexandra: Nobody really understands what cancer is. Like you hear about it, you do the Terry Fox run, you watch
the videos, but nobody really knows what it's like. Like everybody's been touched by cancer, but when
it's a kid, with other kids and how. Nobody really knows how to react to them.
Simon: When people look at videos of people with cancer they think 'oh how sad' and then they go about doing their
daily business as if nothing happened. I mean they don't really realize that it can happen
to you. It is happening to other people.
Sarah: I felt like you were just a completely normal person in an extraordinary environment.
Michael: I really didn't want to be treated any different, before or after my treatment.
I just want everything to be the same and normal life to go.
Dr. Nathan: Your family and friends are obviously the people you turn to first, but fortunately most pediatric hospitals have big teams of people whose entire
job is to make that journey through cancer therapy easier. There are Child Life specialists, there's
social workers and psychologists. Some places have camps for teens. Some of these camps come into the
hospitals that allow you to do much of the normal stuff you were doing before, but in the hospital
while you're getting your cancer treatment.
Simon: Easiest way to find people that have been in your position is just to ask your doctors or nurse. They've seen other people in your situation before, they can
get you in contact with them.
Deirdre: If you're sitting in bed all day and thinking 'I have cancer. I have cancer. I have cancer.' It's not going to be easy to get through each step of the way.
Simon: A positive attitude will make everything so much more optimistic and.
You can always get that like that happy feeling like maybe I'm living another day, you know, just thinking that. You can always be positive in any way.
Deirdre: So something that your Child Life Specialists can help you with is really dealing with those
feelings ahead of time. Saying goodbye if you have to have you know an amputation. Saying goodbye to
that to that limb that you're going to lose. Or whether it's knowing that you're going to
have a scar. Finding a way to celebrate that scar as a battle wound. Or whether it's, you know, losing
your hair and finding an awesome new hat that you can wear every day or series of hats or a
brand new wig that you can find that's styled the color that you wished your hair had been.
Hasina: If you just feel like crying then just cry and like let out your emotions and then move on from it.
Don't let it suck you down and keep you down every day.
David: I mean probably the most important thing to remember is that the cancer isn't what defines who you are. The cancer isn't what you're about.
It's still you that defines who you are. So you who defines how you deal with the kind of cards that you've been dealt.
I would honestly just say take it each day at a time because there's really no looking ahead and there's really no looking back. You just have to focus on that day ahead and go
with it and sometimes it's gonna hurt. Sometimes you're not gonna feel well, but eventually you
can push through it. And if you look at the bright side of things it's gonna make it so much better.