Hi,

I was diagnosed with ALL as a young teenager and finished my treatment just over a year ago. I'm really sorry to hear about your nephew, and I truly wish him the best. The treatment is gruelling and difficult, and sometimes in the moment you don't realise how hard it is, and then later on it really hits you. Something I would've done differently when I was having my treatment would be to find other people like me. I was lucky to have great friends and family who were very supportive, but I think I would've also greatly benefitted from talking to people who knew exactly what all this is like, especially people who were my age as sometimes I felt very isolated from my peers. You really don't realise how tough it is until you go through it yourself, or around someone. In regards to education, I would make sure the school are aware of how tough his treatment is and are understanding about how it effects his learning. I never asked my school for help until after all my treatment was over, because that's when it really hit me how not-okay I was. I'm happy I did ask for help with that after minimising the impact of everything for so long. 

Again, I truly wish your nephew the best of luck and send love to you as a family around him. I can't even imagine how hard this must be with the extra stress of the pandemic, but if he can get through this, he can get through anything - and the same goes for everyone else there for him. 

Thank you so much!

Thank you so much!