Helping Yourself Live When You Are Seriously Ill
You have learned that you have a life-threatening illness. Even if you have the loving support of family and friends, you may feel alone as you question your future health. This article is intended to help you live with your life-threatening illness. MORE
Helping Your Family When a Member is Seriously Ill
You have learned that someone in your family is seriously ill. You want to help the ill person as well as your family. This article will guide you in ways to turn your cares and concerns into positive actions. MORE
Helping a Friend Who Is Seriously Ill
A friend is seriously ill. You want to help, but you are not sure how to go about it. This article will guide you in ways to turn your cares and concerns into positive actions. MORE
Helping Your Family When a Member is Seriously Ill
You have learned that someone in your family is seriously ill. You want to help the ill preson as well as your family. This article will guide you in ways to turn your cares and concerns into positive actions. MORE
Helping a Child Who Has a Serious Illness
A child you care about has a serious illness. You want to help, but you are not sure how to go about it. Whether you are a parent, friend or caregiver, this article will guide you in ways to turn your cares and concerns into actions. MORE
Helping Yourself Live When You Are Seriously Ill
By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.
You have learned that you have a life-threatening illness. Even if you have the loving support of family and friends, you may feel alone as you question your future health. This article is intended to help you live with your life-threatening illness.
Acknowledging Your Illness
Learning that you are seriously ill is a blow. If the onset of the illness was sudden or unexpected, you will likely feel shock and numbness at first. This is a natural and necessary response to painful news.
You can only cope with this new reality in doses. You will first come to understand it in your head, and only over the weeks and even months to come will you come to understand it with your heart.
To acknowledge that you have a life-threatening illness-be it cancer, heart disease or something else-is to acknowledge a major life transition. This transition is one that at some level we think only happens to other people, not us. Yet, inexplicably, it is happening to you. You are faced with a multitude of questions. What treatment should I pursue? Will my treatments reverse, delay or cure my illness? Who can I talk to about my thoughts and feelings? Am I going to die
Facing the Unknown About the Illness
Discovering that you have a life-threatening illness naturally makes you take inventory of your life. You have a right to have questions, fears and hopes. Illness establishes new directions and often causes some questioning of old directions. New thoughts, feelings and action patterns will emerge. The unknown invites you to question and search for the meaning of your life, in the past, present and future.
Accept Your Respnse to the Illness
Each person responds to news of illness in his or her own unique way. You, too, will have your response, be it fear, excitement, anger, loss, grief, denial, hope or any combination of emotions. Becoming aware of how you respond right now is to discover how you will live with your illness. Don't let others prescribe how you feel; find people who encourage you to teach them how you feel. After all, there is no right or wrong way for you to think and feel.
Respect Your Own Need for Talk, for Silence
You may find that you don't want to talk about your illness at all. Or you may find that you want to talk about it with some people, but not with others. In general, open and honest communication is a good idea. When you make your thoughts and feelings known, you are more likely to receive the kind of care and companionship you feel will be most helpful to you.
But if you don't want to talk about your illness, don't force yourself. Perhaps you will be able to open up more later on, after you have lived with the reality of your illness for a time.
Telling Your Family and Friends About Your Illness
Your family and closest friends deserve to know what is happening to you. Tell them when you feel able to.
Be aware that everyone will react differently to your news, just as each seriously ill person reacts differently to his or her own illness. Many will be shocked. Many will cry. Some will refuse to believe it. Some will spring into helpful action by running errands for you, offering to clean your house, etc.
Many will not know how to respond. Because they don't know what to say or do, or because your illness may arouse their own fears of mortality, they may even avoid you altogether. Know that their apparent abandonment does not mean they don't love you.
Even children deserve to be told about your illness. As with all people, children can cope with what they know. They cannot cope with what they don't know. Be honest with them as you explain the situation in language they will understand. Don't overexplain, but do answer any questions they may have.
Be an Active Participant in your Treatment
Many people are taught as "patients" to be passive recipients of the care provided by medical experts. But don't forget-this is your body, your life. Don't fail to ask questions that are important to your emotional and physical well-being out of fear that you will be "taking up someone's time."
Learn about your illness. Visit your local library and consult the medical reference books. Request information from educational associations, such as the National Cancer Institute or the American Heart Association. Ask your doctor, nurses and other caregivers whenever you have a question.
If you educate yourself about the illness and its treatments, you will better understand what is happening to you. You will be better equipped to advocate for personalized, compassionate care. You may not be in control of your illness, but you can and should be in control of your care.
Be Tolerant of Your Physical and Emotional Limits
Your illness and its treatment will almost surely leave you feeling fatigued. Your ability to think clearly and make decisions may be impaired. And your low energy level may naturally slow you down. Respect what your body and mind are telling you. Nurture yourself. Get enough rest. Eat balanced meals. Lighten your schedule as much as possible.
Find Hope
When people are seriously ill, we tend to get caught up in statistics and averages about physical deterioration, treatments and survival. These can be helpful to know, but they don't always provide spiritual and emotional comfort.
Even if your future is guarded, you can find hope in your next treatment, your next visit from someone loved, your spirituality. At bottom, hope means finding meaning in life-whether that life will last five more months, five more years or five more decades.
Embrace Your Spirituality
If faith is part of your life, express it in ways that seem appropriate to you. You may find comfort and hope in reading spiritual texts, attending religious services or praying. Allow yourself to be around people who understand and support your religious beliefs. If you are angry at God because of your illness, realize that this is a normal and natural response. Find someone to talk to who won't be critical of whatever thoughts and feelings you need to explore.
Reach Out for Support
Many of us grew up believing, "Do it on your own so you don't have to depend on anyone else." But confronting a life-threatening illness cannot and should not be done alone. As difficult as it may be for you, you must reach out to your fellow human beings. Most of us know who we feel comfortable turning to when we are under stress. Who do you turn to? Give yourself permission to reach out for prayers, support and practical assistance.
If you do not have a large circle of family and friends, find out about local support groups for people with life-threatening illness. You might also consider seeing a counselor one-on-one. Whatever you do, don't isolate yourself and withdraw from people who love you.
Copyright 2007, Center for Loss and Life Transition
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Helping Your Family When a Member is Seriously Ill
By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.
You have learned that someone in your family is seriously ill. You want to help the ill person as well as your family. This article will guide you in ways to turn your cares and concerns into positive actions.
The Shock of the News
Learning that someone in your family is seriously ill is a blow to everyone the news touches. We sometimes think this only happens in other families, but now it is happening to yours. If the onset of the illness was sudden or unexpected, you and the rest of your family will likely feel shock and numbness at first. This is a natural and necessary response to painful news.
You can only cope with this new reality in doses. You will first come to understand it in your head, and only over the weeks and even months to come will you come to understand it with your heart.
Be Aware of Your Family's Coping Style
How you and your family respond to this illness will have a lot to do with how you as a family have related in the past. If your family is used to openly talking about their feelings with each other, they will probably be able to communicate well about the illness and the changes it brings. Families in which people don't talk about feelings and tend to deal with problems individually will probably have difficulty acknowledging the illness and its impact.
If you are reading this brochure, you are already taking steps to acknowledge the illness in your family. You may have found some family members want to discuss the illness, while others seem to want to to deny the reality and refuse to discuss it. Right now your family may feel like a pressure cooker: you all have a high need to feel understood, but little capacity to be understanding.
Adjust to Changing Roles
Families sometimes have a hard time adjusting to the changing roles the illness makes necessary. If the head of the household is sick, the other spouse may now have to find a job in addition to caring for the home and children, for example. If grandma acted as the family's binding force before she was ill, her family may now feel confused and disjointed where they once felt strong and cohesive.
Such changes can alter the ways in which family members interact with each other. They may be short-tempered, overly dependent, stoic or any number of other things.
Consider Getting Outside Help
Perhaps the most compassionate thing you can do for your family during this stressful time is to reach out for help on their behalf. If someone in your family is caring for the sick person at home, consider hiring a homecare nurse instead. Have groceries delivered. Hire a housekeeper to come in twice a month. Your church or other community organization might be able to provide volunteers to help you with any number of tasks. And family counseling can be a healing, enriching experience that helps family members understand one another now and long after the illness.
Encourage Open Communication, But Do Not Force It
As caring family members, we should encourage honest communication among the sick person, caregivers, family and friends. However, we should never force it. Children will naturally "dose" themselves as they encounter the reality of the illness in their life. They aren't able to take in all the information at once, nor will they want to.
What the Seriously Ill Person May be Feeling
Experiencing illness affects a person's head, heart and spirit. While you wouldn't want to prescribe what they might feel, do be aware that sick people may experience a variety of emotions. Fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, sadness and loneliness are just a few of the emotions they may feel-one at a time or simultaneously.
These feelings are a natural response to serious illness. Your role as caring family member should be to listen to the sick person's thoughts and feelings without trying to change them. If she is sad, she is sad. Don't try to take that necessary emotion away from her. If she is angry or guilty, that's OK too. You may be tempted to soothe or deny her painful feelings, but a more helpful response is to simply acknowledge them. Listen and understand.
Learn About the Illness
You will be better equipped to help your family member if you take it upon yourself to learn about her illness. Visit your local library and consult the medical reference books. Request information from educational associations, such as the National Cancer Institute or the American Heart Association. With the patient's permission, you might also talk to his physician.
If you educate yourself about the illness and its treatments, you will be a more understanding listener when the sick person wants to talk. You will also be able to help the family as a whole better understand what is happening.
Help Family Members Tend to their Own Needs
When a family member is seriously ill, he or she becomes the focal point for the family. Suddenly everyone is concerned about that one person and her survival. This is normal, yet it places a great physical and emotional burden on everyone involved.
Family members should not lose sight of their own needs during this difficult time. Encourage everyone to nurture themselves as well as the sick person. Get enough rest. Eat balanced meals. Lighten schedules as much as possible.
Though the family is experiencing a serious time, they should still give themselves permission to be happy. Plan fun events. Take vacations, together or separately. Allow time to laugh, love and enjoy life.
Embrace Your Spirituality
If faith is part of your family's life, express it in ways that seem appropriate to you. Singly or together, you may find comfort and hope in reading spiritual texts, attending religious services or praying. Allow yourselves to be around people who understand and support your religious beliefs. If some among you are angry at God because of the illness, realize that this is a normal and natural response. Try not to be critical of whatever thoughts and feelings each of you needs to explore.
Copyright 2007, Center for Loss and Life Transition
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Helping a Friend Who Is Seriously Ill
By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.
A friend is seriously ill. You want to help, but you are not sure how to go about it. This article will guide you in ways to turn your cares and concerns into positive actions.
Give the Gift of Presence
Perhaps the greatest gift you can give your seriously ill friend is the gift of your presence. Particularly if you live nearby, you have the opportunity to demonstrate your support by being there, literally, when your friend needs you most. Visit your friend at the hospital or at home -- not just once, but throughout the course of the illness. Rent a movie and bring popcorn. Play cards or Monopoly. Sit with her and watch the snow fall. Your simple presence will say to your friend, "I am willing to walk this difficult road with you and face with you whatever comes."
Do respect your friend's need for alone time, though, and realize that her treatment may zap her energy. She may not be up for company all the time.
Be a Good Listener
Your friend may want to openly discuss his illness, or he may avoid discussing it. The key is to follow your friend's lead. Keep in mind that your friend will experience this illness in his own unique way.
Allow your friend to talk about his illness at his own pace. And while you can be a "safe harbor" for your friend to explain his thoughts and feelings, don't force the situation if your ill friend resists.
If you can listen well, you can help your friend cope during this difficult time. Your physical presence and desire to listen without judging are critical helping tools. Don't worry so much about what you will say. Just concentrate on listening to the words your friend is sharing with you.
Learn About Your Friend's Illness
"People can cope with what they know, but they cannot cope with what they don't know," I often say. You will be better equipped to help your friend if you take it upon yourself to learn about his illness. Visit your local library and consult the medical reference books. Request information from educational associations, such as the National Cancer Institute or the American Heart Association. With your friend's consent, you might also talk to his physician.
If you educate yourself about the illness and its treatments, you will be a more understanding listener when he wants to talk. While you shouldn't inappropriately intervene in his medical care, you might also be a more effective advocate.
Be Compassionate
Give your friend permission to express his or her feelings about the illness without fear of criticism. Learn from your friend; don't instruct or set expectations about how he or she should respond. Think of yourself as someone who "walks with" not "behind" or "in front of" the person who is seriously ill.
Never say, "I know just how you feel." You don't. Comments like, "This is God's will," "Just be happy you are doing as well as you are" or "It could be worse" are not constructive. Instead, they hurt and make your friend's experience with serious illness more difficult.
Offer Practical Help
Your sick friend will probably need help with the activities of daily living. Preparing food, washing clothes, cleaning the house or driving your friend to and from the hospital for treatment are just a few of the practical ways of showing you care.
Stay in Touch
If you are unable to visit your sick friend due to distance or other circumstances, write a note. What do you say? Tell your friend how much she means to you. Reminisce about some of the fun times you've shared. Promise you'll write to her again soon -- and then follow through on that promise. Avoid sending a generic greeting card unless you've personalized it with a heartfelt message.
If you're not comfortable writing, consider sending video- or audio-taped "notes" to your friend. Or simpler yet, pick up the phone.
Get Support for Yourself
Someone you care deeply about is seriosly ill. Odds are you will need support, too, as you explore your own feelings about this illness and the changes you see in your friend. Find someone who will listen to you without judgment as you talk out your own feelings. And don't forget to take good care of yourself. Eat nutritious meals. Get ample rest. Continue to exercise. Spend time doing things that make you happy.
Realize Your Own Limitations
Not everyone can offer ongoing, supportive friendship to someone who is seriously ill. If you feel you simply can't cope with the situation, try to understand your reticence and learn from it. Ask yourself, "Why am I so uncomfortable with this?" and "What can I do to become a more open, compassionate friend in times of need?"
Do not, however, avoid your friend altogether. People with serious illnesses are often abandoned by friends and family, leaving them lonely and depressed. Phone rather than visit. Write if you can't bring yourself to phone. Let your friend know that this situation is difficult for you while at the same time acknowledging that your friend's fears and needs come first.
On the other end of the helping spectrum, don't become obsessed with your friend's illness or feel that you must be her only means of support. Do not emotionally overburden yourself.
Embrace Your Own Spirituality
If faith is part of your life, express it in ways that seem appropriate to you during this difficult time. Pray for your friend and your friend's family if prayer is meaningful to you. Allow yourself to be around people who understand and support your religious beliefs. If you are angry at God because of your friend's illness, that's OK. Find someone to talk with who won't be critical of whatever thoughts and feelings you need to explore.
A Final Word
Your friend needs you now more than ever. At a time when words are inadequate, offer your presence whenever you can. I use three phrases to remind myself of my role as a caring, compassionate friend: Mouth closed. Ears open. Presence available.
Copyright 2007, Center for Loss and Life Transition
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Helping Your Family When a Member is Seriously Ill
By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.
You have learned that someone in your family is seriously ill. You want to help the ill preson as well as your family. This article will guide you in ways to turn your cares and concerns into positive actions.
The Shock of the News
Learning that someone in your family is seriously ill is a blow to everyone the news touches. We sometimes think this only happens in other families, but now it is happening to yours. If the onset of the illness was sudden or unexpected, you and the rest of your family will likely feel shock and numbness at first. This is a natural and necessary response to painful news.
You can only cope with this new reality in doses. You will first come to understand it in your head, and only over the weeks and even months to come will you come to understand it with your heart.
Be Aware of Your Family's Coping Style
How you and your family respond to this illness will have a lot to do with how you as a family have related in the past. If your family is used to openly talking about their feelings with each other, they will probably be able to communicate well about the illness and the changes it brings. Families in which people don't talk about feelings and tend to deal with problems individually will probably have difficulty acknowledging the illness and its impact.
If you are reading this brochure, you are already taking steps to acknowledge the illness in your family. You may have found some family members want to discuss the illness, while others seem to want to to deny the reality and refuse to discuss it. Right now your family may feel like a pressure cooker: you all have a high need to feel understood, but little capacity to be understanding.
Adjust to Changing Roles
Families sometimes have a hard time adjusting to the changing roles the illness makes necessary. If the head of the household is sick, the other spouse may now have to find a job in addition to caring for the home and children, for example. If grandma acted as the family's binding force before she was ill, her family may now feel confused and disjointed where they once felt strong and cohesive.
Such changes can alter the ways in which family members interact with each other. They may be short-tempered, overly dependent, stoic or any number of other things.
Consider Getting Outside Help
Perhaps the most compassionate thing you can do for your family during this stressful time is to reach out for help on their behalf. If someone in your family is caring for the sick person at home, consider hiring a homecare nurse instead. Have groceries delivered. Hire a housekeeper to come in twice a month. Your church or other community organization might be able to provide volunteers to help you with any number of tasks. And family counseling can be a healing, enriching experience that helps family members understand one another now and long after the illness.
Encourage Open Communication, But Do Not Force It
As caring family members, we should encourage honest communication among the sick person, caregivers, family and friends. However, we should never force it. Children will naturally "dose" themselves as they encounter the reality of the illness in their life. They aren't able to take in all the information at once, nor will they want to.
What the Seriously Ill Person May be Feeling
Experiencing illness affects a person's head, heart and spirit. While you wouldn't want to prescribe what they might feel, do be aware that sick people may experience a variety of emotions. Fear, anxiety, anger, guilt, sadness and loneliness are just a few of the emotions they may feel-one at a time or simultaneously.
These feelings are a natural response to serious illness. Your role as caring family member should be to listen to the sick person's thoughts and feelings without trying to change them. If she is sad, she is sad. Don't try to take that necessary emotion away from her. If she is angry or guilty, that's OK too. You may be tempted to soothe or deny her painful feelings, but a more helpful response is to simply acknowledge them. Listen and understand.
Learn About the Illness
You will be better equipped to help your family member if you take it upon yourself to learn about her illness. Visit your local library and consult the medical reference books. Request information from educational associations, such as the National Cancer Institute or the American Heart Association. With the patient's permission, you might also talk to his physician.
If you educate yourself about the illness and its treatments, you will be a more understanding listener when the sick person wants to talk. You will also be able to help the family as a whole better understand what is happening.
Help Family Members Tend to their Own Needs
When a family member is seriously ill, he or she becomes the focal point for the family. Suddenly everyone is concerned about that one person and her survival. This is normal, yet it places a great physical and emotional burden on everyone involved.
Family members should not lose sight of their own needs during this difficult time. Encourage everyone to nurture themselves as well as the sick person. Get enough rest. Eat balanced meals. Lighten schedules as much as possible.
Though the family is experiencing a serious time, they should still give themselves permission to be happy. Plan fun events. Take vacations, together or separately. Allow time to laugh, love and enjoy life.
Embrace Your Spirituality
If faith is part of your family's life, express it in ways that seem appropriate to you. Singly or together, you may find comfort and hope in reading spiritual texts, attending religious services or praying. Allow yourselves to be around people who understand and support your religious beliefs. If some among you are angry at God because of the illness, realize that this is a normal and natural response. Try not to be critical of whatever thoughts and feelings each of you needs to explore.
Copyright 2007, Center for Loss and Life Transition
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Helping a Child Who Has a Serious Illness
By Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.
A child you care about has a serious illness. You want to help, but you are not sure how to go about it. Whether you are a parent, friend or caregiver, this article will guide you in ways to turn your cares and concerns into actions.
The New Face of Serious Childhood Illnesses
As few as thirty years ago, children with a life-threatening illness and their families were gently told to prepare for a certain death. Fortunately, medical advances have increased chances of survival for children with many types of serious illness. Children with many types of childhood cancers, for example, now have a much greater chance of long-term survival.
The child's physician has probably talked with you about the child's prognosis. Where there is a chance for recovery, there is hope. But for the child's sake, as well as your own, you must also focus on the here and now. The child is seriously ill and will probably be undergoing many experiences that are frightening and confusing. You can help by walking with the child in his journey through illness.
Don't Underestimate the Child's Capacity to Understand
Children do experience anxiety and grief related to their illness. So, they deserve support and understanding in coping with these feelings. Sometimes adults, in an effort to protect themselves, assume that children are incapable of understanding. They don't talk directly to them about their illnesses, which can leave them feeling alone and isolated.
Children can cope with what they know. They can't cope with what they don't know. They deserve an atmosphere that creates open, two-way communication. Many seriously ill children will go back and forth between wanting to know details about their illness and not wanting to acknowledge they are even sick. It is critical to follow the lead of the child. Always listen first as you support open dialogue about any feelings, concerns or questions they might have. If they ask something and you don't know the answer, simply say, "I don't know."
When the timing is right, explain the illness in language the child will understand. Explain what her treatment will be. Be specific when you can:
"Tomorrow we will go to the clinic. We'll be in a small room and a nurse will put a short needle in your arm. Through the needle, medicine will go into your body and help the sickness inside you go away. I'll be right there with you the whole time."
Encourage Open Communication, But Do Not Force It
As caring adults we should encourage honest communication among the child, caregivers, family and friends. However, we should never force it. Children will naturally "dose" themselves as they encounter the reality of the illness in their life. They aren't able to take in all the information at once, nor will they want to.
Answer only what is asked in the child's terms. Don't over-respond out of your own anxiety. Remember-children will determine with whom they want to share their pain. Often, the child wants to protect his parents or other close adults and will adopt a "chin up" attitude around them. This is a normal response and should be respected.
Understand That the Child's Communication Will Not Always Be Direct
Children, particularly seriously ill children, are not always direct about their thoughts and feelings. They may make statements, display behaviors or ask questions that indirectly suggest their understanding or awareness of a situation. These cues reflect underlying needs and deserve loving responses. Pay special attention to the child's non-verbal means of trying to communicate any needs or concerns.
What the Seriously Ill Child May be Feeling
Experiencing illness affects a child's head, heart and spirit. While you wouldn't want to prescribe what a child might feel, do be aware that they may experience a variety of emotions. Fear, anxiety, anger, sadness and loneliness are just a few of the emotions they may feel-one at a time or simultaneously.
These feelings are a natural response to serious illness. Perhaps you can be among those who enter into the child's feelings without thinking they have to help the child "get over" these feelings.
Learn About the Child's Illness
You will be better equipped to help the child if you take it upon yourself to learn about her illness. Visit your local library and consult the medical reference books. Request information from educational associations, such as the National Cancer Institute or the American Heart Association. Talk to her physician.
If you educate yourself about the illness and its treatments, you will be a more understanding listener when the child wants to talk. You'll also be more able to explain some of the confusing medical information to her. Finally, you'll be a more effective advocate for her if she is too young to make her own needs clear.
Support Parents and Other Important Adults in the Child's Life
The serious illness of a child naturally impacts the entire family as well as friends. Not only should you be supportive of the child, you should also be available to support and nurture other family members and close friends. The adult response to the illness will influence the child's response. So, in supporting adults you are supporting the child.
Perhaps you can be a caring companion and help in practical ways. Offer to provide food for the family, wash clothes, clean the house. Listen when they need to talk. Sit with the ill child to give parents a break. Help with other children in the family.
While words may be inadequate, your supportive behavior will be remembered forever.
Don't Forget Siblings
Take special note of the dying child's siblings. Because so much time and attention is being focused on the dying child right now, his brothers and sisters may feel emotionally abandoned. Go out of your way to ensure their needs are being met, as well.
Actively Involve Children in Treatment Plans
Seriously ill children benefit from being involved in their own treatment. Involvement helps create a sense of trust and gives them some measure of control. After all, if we know that children are aware of the seriousness of their illness and that open discussion helps them cope, then it only follows that they must be actively involved in treatment efforts.
Ask the sick child's physician to explain treatment options to him in age-appropriate language. Allow the child time to think about this information and ask questions. Then take his responses seriously. Whenever possible, incorporate his wants and needs into the treatment plan.
Be Prepared for the Child to Ask About Death
Depending on the seriousness of the illness and the information she has been told, the child may well ask you if she is going to die. Don't say "No" unless it is definitely true. Instead, explain to the child the different possible outcomes of her illness. Remember, children aren't automatically afraid of death. They are more often curious about it. Now is a good opportunity to talk about death in general and the natural lifecycles of all living things.
Allow Children to be Children
Although a serious illness is influencing the child's life, he still has the same needs as other kids-needs for friends, for play, for school etc. Even very ill children can often participate in some form of play, including board games, puzzles or video games.
Peer relationships are very important to children, and the illness will likely create some social and physical barriers to these friendships. As an adult, you can see that friendships continue to be nurtured. Arrange a special party for the sick child. Make play dates with the child's one or two best friends. Help the children write letters back and forth when contact isn't possible.
Embrace Your Spirituality
If faith is part of your life, express it in ways that seem appropriate to you. During this difficult time you may find comfort and hope in reading spiritual texts, attending religious services or praying. Allow yourself to be around people who understand and support your religious beliefs.
A Final Word
All children, seriously ill or not, have the right to be nurtured, to be children and to make choices that impact their lives. There is nothing more difficult for families than confronting the serious illness and potential death of a child. As caring adults, we have responsibility to maximize the quality of life for the child, the family and friends. I hope the information in this brochure will help you put your love into action.
Copyright 2007, Center for Loss and Life Transition
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