Hello Berch,

How terribly sad that your son's best friend was diagnosed with a brain tumour at such a young age. It is heartbreaking news and it can be hard to find the right words to talk to our little ones about cancer, even more so as it affects a close friend of his that he used to hang out with or play with so it can be a shock to your son to suddenly see him poorly. It was really nice of you to go and visit him in hospital, I bet it made him feel so much better to see his best mate talk and joke as usual even though he couldn't himself really respond.

I hope you will hear from others on our forum who have supported a young child or teenager with cancer and that they will be able to share their thoughts with you on how to be there for him and his family but also how best to support your son during this very emotional and difficult time. We have an interesting page on our website on Talking to Children about Cancer which you can find here and which I hope will be useful to you.

I hope your son is doing ok and do come back here when you have some time to update us on his little friend's progress. We hope that he responds well to the treatment and that he doesn't have to stay in hospital for too long.

Best wishes,

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator