It helps to know you're not alone. We encourage you and your family to gain support not only from our cancer experts, but also from others going through similar experiences.
A cancer diagnosis shakes up your life and the lives of your family in ways you might never expect. The diagnosis looms like the "elephant in the room" – an age-old expression used to describe something big that everyone is aware of but no one wants to talk about.
Simple Talk for Tough Times can help you talk with the children in your life about a cancer diagnosis and help them cope with the enormous changes cancer often brings.
In addition to general advice and suggestions, Simple Talk for Tough Times explores each phase of childhood development. Each section offers age-appropriate ideas for what to say, what to do and what to observe when talking with children about cancer.
The first section explores how to approach that first talk about a cancer diagnosis. It includes talking points organized by childhood developmental age groups.
Cancer casts one's life into a constant state of the unknown. The second section explores how you and your child can face these uncertainties together. It includes talking points organized by childhood developmental age groups.
For years, Marcia Carlson, a social worker at Virginia Piper Cancer Institute® – Unity Hospital, had trouble finding resources to help parents with cancer talk to their children about it. That is why she wrote Simple Talk for Tough Times.
In 2011, the Minnesota Hospital Association recognized Carlson's efforts by naming her Caregiver of the Year.
Cancer resource centers
Cancer resource centers at these locations are open to anyone who needs to gain knowledge and experience support.
480 Osborne Road NE, Fridley, Minnesota
Phone: 763-236-5607
Hours: Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Staff members and volunteers can help you find information on cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment. They also can guide you to support services at the hospital and in your community.
Materials can be checked out so that you can read them at home.
Hospital support services
Every Allina hospital offers these support services. Your doctor or nurse can tell you how to access them.
Nutrition therapy
Registered dietitians can assess your food needs and help you set goals to improve eating and manage weight.
Social services
Social workers can help patients and their families find support for emotional or financial issues, and community resources.
Spiritual care
Chaplains encourage each person's journey of faith and hope. Sacraments and rituals of many faith traditions are available.
Financial services
Patient account representatives can answer questions about hospital bills or insurance coverage. They also can help you access Allina Financial Assistance Services.
Cancer rehabilitation
A physical medicine and rehabilitation doctor and a nurse practitioner specializing in cancer care will assess how cancer is affecting your ability to do normal daily activities, work or exercise. After cancer treatment, they will work with you to restore those abilities.
Sister Kenny Rehabilitation Institute offers cancer rehabilitation services in partnership with Virginia Piper Cancer Institute.
Genetic counseling
Worried about inheriting cancer or passing it on? Ask your doctor if a referral for genetic counseling is appropriate for you.
Genetic counseling is available at these hospitals:
A genetic counselor helps interpret complex family histories, helps people understand genetic tests and how their genes affect their health, and provides a personal risk assessment.
A genetic counselor can help you make an informed decision about genetic testing and if it is right for you.
Before the first appointment, the genetic counselor gathers as much information as possible about the patient and the patient's family history of cancer.
During the first session, the genetic counselor reviews family history and discusses:
how genes are passed down through families
how some families tend to have certain types of cancer
the risks and benefits of genetic testing.
If you choose genetic testing, you will need to have a sample of blood drawn.
During the second session, the counselor reviews and explains genetic testing results. If your risks are high, the counselor can work with you and your doctor to develop a strategy to prevent and watch for cancer.
Genes (DNA) are the blueprints for every-thing made in your body. They guide your growth and development.
You inherit your genes from both parents. People who are biologically related share some of the same genetic material.
In all cancers, genes become damaged or altered (changed) in a way that causes cells to become cancerous or to grow uncontrolled. This can be caused by many things such as exposure to radiation or certain chemicals, or by chance. You can also inherit alterations in genes but this is not common.
Inherited cancer occurs in a small number of families (5 to 10 percent of cancers). In this case, an altered gene is present at conception and is in every cell of your body. Having an inherited genetic change does not mean you will get cancer. You have a higher risk because the cells have a "head start" on becoming cancerous.
Not everyone who has cancer — even in the same family — will develop cancer because of the same reasons.
Some things in your family history that increase the chance of an inherited form of cancer include:
being diagnosed with cancer at a younger than typical age
similar cancers in many relatives (on your mother's or father's side)
a relative who has more than one type of cancer
a relative who has a rare type of cancer.
A genetic counselor can review your family history and medical records of family members who have cancer. This will give the genetic counselor an idea of how likely there is an inherited cancer risk in you or your family.
This information will also allow the genetic counselor to estimate your cancer risk and make sure you have proper screening and prevention options.
Health care providers may suggest that you or a relative may benefit from a genetic test to see if you have a greater potential to develop certain cancers.
Some people with cancer and/or who have relatives with cancer, want to know why they got cancer or more about their own risk for developing cancer.
Genetic counseling and possibly gene testing may help clarify your cancer risks and risks that may extend to relatives.
Gene testing cannot provide a satisfactory answer for everyone who seems to be at increased risk for inherited breast cancer.
Before you decide about testing, you should talk with your health care provider and with a genetic counselor.
improved cancer risk management (screening, monitoring and prevention)
relief from the unknown or anxiety
patient or family feeling more informed about choices and risks
other family members may have the option to seek gene testing information to clarify their risks, if appropriate
lifestyle changes related to managing cancer risk.
The risks of testing may include:
possible psychological distress for patient and family
concern about discrimination and privacy issues (For more information, visit genome.gov/10002077.)
a change in how family members relate to each other
an exchange of one uncertainty for another (Testing cannot predict when or if you will get a specific cancer.)
creation of a false sense of security if a cause of the cancer is not found.
Physical risks of genetic testing are small (blood draw) but the emotions around this type of testing can be powerful.You will be learning not only about yourself and your own future, but also about your family.
National Human Genome Research Institute at genome.gov.
Source:Allina Patient Education, Genetic Testing for Assessing the Risk of Hereditary Breast Cancer, can-ahc-14312 (09/06); Cancer Centers of Mercy and Unity hospitals Reviewed by: Timothy Sielaff, MD, PhD, FACS, president, Virginia Piper Cancer Institute; Shari Baldinger, MS, certified genetic counselor, Abbott Northwestern Hospital; Paula Colwell, RN, patient care manager, Virginia Piper Cancer Institute First Published: 08/17/2009 Last Reviewed: 08/17/2009
Changes in two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, have been linked to the tendency for inherited breast and ovarian cancer.
American Cancer Society services
We work with the American Cancer Society to bring their services to you and your family. For more about American Cancer Society services, call 1-800-227-2345 (1-866-228-4327 for TTY for the hearing impaired) or visit cancer.org.
A licensed cosmetologist teaches people with cancer ways to enhance their appearance and self-image during chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Allina locations in Minnesota include Coon Rapids, Fridley, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Shakopee. Allina also offers the service in River Falls, Wisconsin.
Learn about cancer and how to cope with the challenges a cancer diagnosis brings. Allina offers this free American Cancer Society support group series at these Minnesota locations: Coon Rapids, Fridley and St. Paul.
Hope Lodge
American Cancer Society Hope Lodges offer cancer patients and their families a free, temporary place to stay when their best hope for effective treatment may be in another city. To find a Hope Lodge and to learn more about a specific facility, please visit that location's page at cancer.org, or call the American Cancer Society toll free anytime, day or night, at 1-800-ACS-2345.
Section 1: Breaking the news
