My mum has breast cancer and I need support

Hi please could I get support thanks my mum has had Breast cancer and she has started he chemotherapy I have a lot of emotions going on I just need advice thanks

Hello,

I can imagine it must have been a huge shock to be told that your mum had breast cancer. At your age, you don’t expect anything like that to happen to your parent and your whole world is suddenly turned upside down. It really can be quite scary and it is completely normal to feel upset and have lots of emotions going on inside you. It’s important to remember though, that there are very good treatments for breast cancer and many women can be completely cured. It can still be scary though and your life can change in many ways when your mum is undergoing treatment. It often helps to cope with a new situation if we know more about it. You may already know a lot about the treatment and what’s happening to your mum, but if you don’t, it can be a good idea to talk to your mum about it and ask her about things you want to know and things you may be worrying about. Many teenagers are reluctant to talk to their parent about it because they think it might upset them and they don’t want their parent to worry about them. But I’m sure that your mum is worrying about you anyway and it’s better for both of you to be able to talk openly about how you feel. That will ease the pressure of emotions building up inside you and it will also allow both of you to support each other. Perhaps there are people in your mum’s treatment team that you could also talk to, for example if she has a specialist breast cancer nurse who’s supporting her at the hospital…? Or perhaps there is a cancer support centre near you where the family could go for support?

We would very much like to help you with what you’re going through at the moment and you can talk to us via email by using the get in touch form that you have already used. Or we could help you get support locally if that is what you need. It would be good if you could write back and tell us a bit more about your home situation. For example, you have not mentioned anybody else in the family… is it just you and your mum at home? Also, have you told your friends about what’s happening and are they being supportive…? And, how are you coping at school at the moment...?

In the meantime, I hope that you may find some support in reading stories from other young people in similar situations. I believe that you may also have posted a message in the in riprap’s online forum so hopefully someone will get back to you there too.

We hope to hear from you again…

Warm wishes

Hilde

Page updated 17/03/16