With cancer now touching the lives of so many people, it's not just the women - and men - fighting the disease who are affected by it, but their caregivers, families and friends. Many people contact us to ask what support there is available for the children of a parent with cancer.
When my immediate family were devastated by cancer some years ago, I desperately wanted to find other youngsters of a similiar age who I could talk to and share my experiences with. Even when I looked for counselling to help me cope with losing a parent when I was barely an adult myself, there didn't seem to be anything specifically geared towards my situation. It was a very isolating experience, but I couldn't belive that there weren't other young adults going the same experience as me.
Since then, a lot seems to have been done to address the needs of teenagers and young adults. Riprap is a website developed by a team based at the University of Sheffield, in the UK (within the Sheffield Palliative Care Studies Group). It is specifically for 12-16 year olds who have a parent with cancer.
Riprap offers a way for teenagers to share their experiences with others in the same situation. As well as being able to learn more about cancer and the treatments available; they can take part in the forum or in a topical debate, ask questions and advice, find out about the support available to them and generally say how they feel. Teenagers are invited to send their stories in for inclusion on the site, however stories may be changed slightly to protect the privacy of those concerned. Likewise, Riprap states that their forum is closely monitored and all messages are checked before being published to ensure both that the contents of the message are appropriate and that confidential information about the author and his/her family is not given away.
This link to Riprap will open in a seperate window.
Remember.....Be Aware!
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