Hiya,

I hope you guys are all managing well. Your situation resonated with me immensely, I was diagnosed with ALL at 7. From a personal perspective, keep your nephew interacting with his friends as much as possible, I'm sure with COVID it is a lot harder than it was when I had it, but you could try facetimes or park trips? Outside play could limit the risk of any shared germs.

I know personally, I have only just come to terms with my experience. It is not easy being a young cancer survivor, you hold onto those feelings but can't really resolve them because everything is fuzzy. I cannot recommend enough encouraging him to express those feelings now. Whether this is to you guys or a therapist. It is so surprising how easily kids pick up on adult's emotions, I always felt like I had to be strong for the people around me. Let him know it is okay to be scared, it is okay to cry, it is okay to feel the emotions that come with being treated. It will do him a world of good in the long run.

From the education point of view, I was so lucky in that my school were very understanding about my situation. Encourage him to do work when he feels like he can, but make sure to maintain the healthy balance of work/play. When he is at a stage which you all feel able to, maybe he can go into school for the afternoon? He could wear a mask depending on how comfortable you all are with his peergroup or you could ask if the class could have an outdoor play session? 

I really hope you are all coping well, if you have anymore questions please do ask.  

Hiya,

I hope you guys are all managing well. Your situation resonated with me immensely, I was diagnosed with ALL at 7. From a personal perspective, keep your nephew interacting with his friends as much as possible, I'm sure with COVID it is a lot harder than it was when I had it, but you could try facetimes or park trips? Outside play could limit the risk of any shared germs.

I know personally, I have only just come to terms with my experience. It is not easy being a young cancer survivor, you hold onto those feelings but can't really resolve them because everything is fuzzy. I cannot recommend enough encouraging him to express those feelings now. Whether this is to you guys or a therapist. It is so surprising how easily kids pick up on adult's emotions, I always felt like I had to be strong for the people around me. Let him know it is okay to be scared, it is okay to cry, it is okay to feel the emotions that come with being treated. It will do him a world of good in the long run.

From the education point of view, I was so lucky in that my school were very understanding about my situation. Encourage him to do work when he feels like he can, but make sure to maintain the healthy balance of work/play. When he is at a stage which you all feel able to, maybe he can go into school for the afternoon? He could wear a mask depending on how comfortable you all are with his peergroup or you could ask if the class could have an outdoor play session? 

I really hope you are all coping well, if you have anymore questions please do ask.  

Thank you so much - I'm happy to write he's actually started going back to school in the last few weeks which has made a huge differnce for him!