When a child is diagnosed with cancer, life flips upside-down. Suddenly, our days (and our thoughts) are dominated by doctors, nurses, child life specialists, and a million technical terms that will make anyone's head spin. Add extreme fear and anxiety to that, and you've got a recipe for the most stressful time in a family's life.
What Happens When a Kid Has Cancer is a book written with purpose of relieving the anxiety and confusion that comes from a child's cancer diagnosis and treatment.
What Happens When a Kid Has Cancer covers the main points of pediatric cancer - what it is and what the experience of treatment is like - and shows how it can change a kid's day. The book is great for ages 4 -10 and discusses:
- The science of cancer
- Changes to routines
- Surgery and anesthesia
- Chemotherapy
- Hair loss and hair changes
- Port, central line, and tubies
- Hospital stays
- Radiation
- Scans and blood draws
- Emotions relating to cancer
Over the course of a year and with the help of both experts and families who have been through pediatric cancer, author and illustrator Sara Olsher explains the science of cancer (in an age-appropriate, totally non-scary way) and uses an illustrated calendar to show how various treatments affect a child's day-to-day. This method of teaching is based on decades of solid science about how kids learn and cope with the major day-to-day changes that result from issues like cancer. By creating a routine that kids can see and understand, parents can restore a sense of safety and predictability in their kids' lives, helping them to be more resilient in the face of life's inevitable challenges. What Happens When a Kid Has Cancer? helps families that want to reduce their kids' anxiety surrounding a very scary diagnosis. It aims to empower kids with knowledge, which is proven to help kids through traumatic situations.