What is it about?
A nurse from the USA (Kanarek) relocated to London in 2000 with her family after her son's death following a 5 year battle with leukemia. While in London, she became involved with the Teenage Cancer Trust to volunteer and to meet other parents who lost their teenagers to cancer. It was at The Teenage Cancer Trust, that Kanarek met a nurse counselor (Riley) who helped her heal by sharing stories of patient care that she encountered in her London practice. Together, they soon realized that there were shared experiences and universal themes amongst parents who lost their teens to cancer. This article addresses the universal experiences of losing a teenager between the two nurses, one from a parent's perspective, and the other, from a clinical perspective and highlights suggestions to improve patient care.
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Perspectives
The parents perspective of care has rarely been identified in cancer literature. From this article, I have been able to find a voice as a nurse and as a parent who lost her son to cancer. I have since learned about the important role palliative care would have made if it had been available. Healthcare providers need to learn how to communicate effectively and compassionately if they are to help their patients and their families through such a difficult, heart-wrenching ordeal.
Mrs. Robin Bennett Kanarek
Kanarek Family Foundation
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Parent's Perspective of Teenage Cancer, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/9780470994733.ch19.
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