Childhood cancer - the parents' experience

Cancer remains a condition that a large proportion of the population associates with pain, suffering and death. The diagnosis usually represents an existential crisis in a person's life, throwing those affected out of their normal daily routine and into a world of grief, anger and uncertainty that is new to them. When the disease strikes a parent's own child, it brings with it not only physical but often also psychological and social burdens for the parents concerned. Fear and uncertainty dominate the parents' emotional lives, as do feelings of guilt. They must not only deal with their child's emotional reaction to the diagnosis, but also their own. The family's daily routine is organised around the child's treatment plan, and both the child and the parents must find their way in the unfamiliar surroundings of the hospital.