Being a support system for your child

Mickey Guisewite, Parent With A Purpose, shares advice for parents with a child diagnosed with cancer on how to best support your child through their treatments
Pediatric Cancer Advice | Being A Support System For Your Child
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Being a support system for your child

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I helped my son get through cancer treatment by being his support system in every single possible way. First of all, I was his emotional support system. I'm a mirror, and everything that he saw in my face was reflected back to him. I tried to be as positive and upbeat and strong with him as I could. I also was a shoulder for him to cry on, but a strong shoulder for him to cry on. I didn't break down in front of him. I assured him that he was gonna be okay, and I had to believe that myself. I don't know how I would have gotten through it without that. It was important for me to be a support system by knowing everything I could about his medical plan and his treatment. That was very important; I had to be his advocate. When he was at home, I think I was a support system by creating a completely germ-free environment. I couldn't cure the cancer, but I could stand there armed with a bottle of Clorox Cleanup trying to make our house entirely germ-free so he wouldn't get sick, even sicker than he was. And another way that I think I supported my son throughout his cancer treatment was, I'm a mom and I love to cook, and I love to cook for my children. I was so worried about him getting some sort of bacteria from hospital food he would be eating that I home-cooked every single meal that he ate and I would bring it down to the hospital to him. And I would make sure that everything was sterile and everything was safe and everything had been cooked enough, I would pack it in a certain way. So those are some of the things I did to help him get through it.

Mickey Guisewite, Parent With A Purpose, shares advice for parents with a child diagnosed with cancer on how to best support your child through their treatments

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Mickey Guisewite

Parent with a Purpose

Mickey Guisewite is a former advertising executive and syndicated newspaper columnist who started The Bottomless Toy Chest after her son successfully completed cancer treatment. The Bottomless Toy Chest is a nonprofit organization devoted to delivering toys, crafts and hands-on activities to hospitalized pediatric cancer patients. Mickey lives at home with her husband, son, daughter, two dogs, two cats and two turtles. When she’s not delivering toys to sick kids, she’s at home trying to find a tiny space on the couch among her two-legged and four-legged family members. 

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