Childhood Cancer

Online support groups

Be sure to check the accuracy of any medical information obtained from an online support group with members of your child’s treatment team.

The Association of Cancer Online Resources, Inc. (ACOR)

www.acor.org

ACOR is a unique collection of 142 online cancer communities that is designed to provide timely and accurate information in a supportive environment. It hosts several pediatric cancer discussion groups, including ones on Wilms tumor, Ewing sarcoma, retinoblastoma, and rhabdomyosarcoma.

Group Loop

www.grouploop.org

Online cancer support for teens through the Cancer Support Community/Gilda’s Club network.

Imerman Angels

www.imermanangels.org

One-on-one mentoring for adolescents and young adults with cancer patients.

Momcology

www.momcology.org

Momcology is a non-profit support organization that connects primary caregivers of children with cancer for peer support and information sharing. Momcology provides real-time connections via peer moderated social networking groups where caregivers can find each other in a safe, secure and responsible environment to discuss protocols, side effects, treatment outcomes, and personal experiences. Momcology connections empower patient families to become educated contributors to their child’s medical care team while providing a compassionate environment of support and healing.

Stupid Cancer

www.stupidcancer.org

An online resource for and by adolescents and young adults with cancer. Includes medical information, links to scholarships and grants, regional and national conferences, a talk radio podcast, and an active peer support community, including a one-on-one peer support smartphone app.

About the Authors

Anne Spurgeon, trained as a historian at the University of Wisconsin, is the parent of a long-term survivor of rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue sarcoma. For more than 15 years, she served as the executive director of the Badger Childhood Cancer Network in Madison, Wisconsin. Its mission is to educate, support, serve, and advocate for children with cancer, their families, survivors of childhood cancer, and the professionals who care for them (www.badgerchildhoodcancer.org). Anne enjoys having adventures with her three interesting young adult children; kayaking the beautiful lakes of Wisconsin; reading history, anthropology, and science; and making and drinking craft beer.

Nancy Keene, a well-known writer and advocate for children with cancer, is the parent of a 24-year survivor of childhood cancer. She is one of the founders of the nonprofit Childhood Cancer Guides, and she has written many books for families of children with cancer, including Childhood Leukemia; Your Child in the Hospital; and Chemo, Craziness, and Comfort. She co-authored Childhood Brain & Spinal Cord Tumors and Childhood Cancer Survivors. She served as chair of the Patient Advocacy Committees of both the Children’s Cancer Group (CCG) and the Children’s Oncology Group (COG). In her spare time, she likes to read, hike with her dogs, and kayak in the Salish Sea.

Childhood Cancer Guides^TM

Questions Answered
Experiences Shared

When your life is turned upside down, your need for information is great. You have to make critical medical decisions, often with what seems like little to go on. Plus, you have to break the news to family, quiet your own fears, help your ill child and your other children, figure out how you are going to pay the bills, and sometimes get to work or put dinner on the table.

Childhood Cancer Guides provide authoritative information for the families and friends of children with cancer or survivors of childhood cancer. Our books cover all aspects of how these illnesses affect family life. In each book, there’s a mix of:

• Medical information

Dozens of experts on childhood cancer and survivorship contributed to these books to provide state-of-the-art information to help you weigh treatment options. Modern medicine has much to offer. When there are treatment controversies, we present differing points of view.

• Practical information

After making treatment decisions, life focuses on coping with treatment and any side effects that develop. We cover day-to-day practicalities, such as those you’d hear from a helpful nurse or a knowledgeable support group.

• Emotional support

It’s normal to have strong reactions to a condition that threatens your child’s life. It’s normal that the whole family is affected. We cover issues such as the shock of diagnosis, living with uncertainty, and communicating with loved ones.

Each book contains stories from parents, children, and siblings who share, in their own words, the lessons they have learned and what truly helped them cope.