Book to help kids cope with cancer

Book to help kids cope with cancer

2008/09/12

KUALA LUMPUR: Mahilah (not her real name) was having a hard time explaining to her 9-year-old son why his hair dropped after his chemotherapy treatment for cancer. She also had problems answering his questions about death, especially when the boy in the hospital bed next to his died. In desperation, Mahilah and the hospital staff had lied and told her son that the boy had gone home to his family.However, her son later found out the truth and scolded his mother for lying to him. The news of his friend's death had also frightened him.

Mahilah is one of the many adults who find it difficult to talk to children about cancer, and more often than not, would give vague answers or tell a lie when posed with such questions.

It is precisely this problem which the What Book of Cancer hopes to address. Produced by the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM), it is an illustrated book for children aged 9 to 12 who are exposed to cancer.

NCSM executive director Dr Saunthari Somasundaram said talking to children about cancer was better than keeping the information from them.

"If you keep things from them, children think that things are worse than they sometimes are and they also get frightened," she said at the book launch yesterday.

Dr Saunthari said that when cancer struck, children would be able to sense that something was wrong even if they did not know what it was.



The What Book of Cancer, which is distributed free, covers topics like "What will life with cancer be like", and "What will happen to my studies and school?"

NCSM is distributing 5,000 copies of the book to hospitals nationwide. The English-language book will also be translated into Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese by year-end. It is produced with the support of Blackmores (M) Sdn Bhd.
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