Health

Dana-Farber launches Web site for parents with cancer

Site offers wealth of reliable cancer information that is available around the clock

June 29, 2006

BOSTON, (AScribe Newswire) — Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has launched a Web site devoted to providing around-the-clock information and support to families in which a parent has been diagnosed with cancer.

The Family Connections Web site

"Learning that you have cancer is challenging enough, but for a parent they have the extra burden of breaking the news to their children," said Nancy Borstelmann, MPH, LICSW, director of the Family Connections program at Dana-Farber. "Parents need the resources to ensure that their children are coping during those difficult times. They need to know how to talk with them in an age appropriate way both to provide information and answer their questions."

Of the 1.4 million adults in the United States who will be diagnosed with cancer this year, nearly 25 percent of them will have a child 18 years or younger. Each of these people will be forced to ask themselves: How do I talk with my child about cancer? How do I answer the question "Mom, are you going to die?" What do I tell their teachers? And how do I answer people when they ask what can they do to help? The mission of the Family Connections web site is to help provide answers to these questions and empower the families to cope together.

The site includes:

• How to talk with your children about cancer

• What children want to know

• How to explain treatment

• How to help children cope

• Stress warning signs in children

• Talking with your child's school

• Sections for the well partner

• What to do when treatment is over

• Questions parents often ask

• Medical terms made easy

• Resources (books, videos, Web site, community) for parents and children

This is the kind of information that Larry Katznelson and his wife Deborah Rosoff were searching for when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. They desperately needed information on the myriad issues that affect a family when a parent has cancer to help themselves and their two young boys through this difficult journey.

During Debby's treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute they found some assistance from her care team, but when she lost her battle with the disease five and half years later, he needed even more information. "When Debby passed away, I still needed information on how to help the boys and myself deal with this devastating loss over the short and long term," recalled Katznelson. Following her death Katznelson and members of their family worked with Dana-Farber to launch the Family Connections Web site, in memory of his wife. "Debby was, and will always be, my hero," said Katznelson. "This Web site is dedicated to her: it is our gift to Debby and, in return, her gift to others. We want to make it easier for families to find the information and support they need when dealing with the enormous demands of being a parent with cancer. We hope it will help ease other families' burdens, much as Debby's love and courage helped ease ours."

ABOUT DANA-FARBER

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.dana-farber.org) is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), a designated comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute.

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