Being a pediatric oncology social worker, I recognize the difficulty and struggle associated with openly talking to children about illness, side effects, and treatments. For some parents the struggle is too much and they avoid talking to their children, leaving a young child’s wonderful imagination to run wild. I was recently talking to a young adult brain tumor survivor who had...
Perceptions that our society has regarding people with disabilities are often extremely inaccurate. A person with a speech impairment may be treated as if they’re not capable of understanding basic information even though the difficulty lies in them expressing things that they already know, and not their understanding of the actual knowledge. People with physical handicaps are...
I recently read an article about a 51 year old brain tumor survivor currently living in Los Angeles who enjoys drumming. Idris Hester was diagnosed with his first tumor in 1970 and experienced a reoccurrence 3 times.
When a child is diagnosed with a brain tumor, families and friends often rally around the child and encourage the family to seek out any resources, services, and treatments that are available. At times this can lead families to take drastic measures they would typically not make. Recently, an episode of 60 Minutes featured a story about an American doctor in Ecuador who is selling...
CBTF is currently in the midst of planning our Tri-State 5K walk. Currently we are looking for team captains to help us organize walkers, raise funds for CBTF, and to create awareness for pediatric brain tumors. We have a scheduled meeting for our Long Island participants on Thursday January 12that 7pm. If you, your family, and/or your friends are interested in being a team...
Many of you who are avid Facebook users like myself, may have seen a recent post circulating that says: “Mattel should make a Barbie with no hair so that every girl fighting cancer feels beautiful! Put her in pink, name her HOPE and send the proceeds to St. Jude. Post this if you agree, I bet 99% of you won’t.” This post seems to have created a variety of opinions around...
With the New Year days away we are busy planning several exciting program events for 2012. We have our usual suspects which include our Family Camps, Heads Up Conference’s, Kids’ Cruise, Circus, and Holiday parties. Additionally we are adding some new programming which will include CBTF Walks, a new Family to Family Conference, a Photo-journaling class, and a Career...
As 2012 rapidly approaches, I’ve been thinking about what the New Year means to many of us. We’re all aware of the traditional resolutions in which we resolve to either engage in new behaviors or rid ourselves of old bad habits so that we can better ourselves.
Despite all of the joy and celebration that marks the holiday season, it seems as though with all of the crowded stores and last-minute shopping, party planning and travel, and all else that is involved with holiday “cheer”, many people enter and leave the holiday season feeling tired and stressed. It’s easy to let all of the good points of this time of year fall to the...
