Sarah M
Dr. Sarah McCarthy, Ph.D., MPH, LP - pediatric psychologist and mom to twin girls, Molly and Emma. Molly was diagnosed with the rare occurrence of 2 pediatric cancers - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Neuroblastoma.
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When only one parent is in the hospital: It was hard relaying our daughter’s updates to my husband.

Twins: Trying to keep them connected while one was in the hospital.

Twins separated by cancer treatment: They had never been apart for more than a day.

The worry doesn't end “I will never be able to not worry about the cancer coming back."

Self Care: Find tiny little opportunities to do something for yourself.

Navigating peer support groups.

Her transplant doc said, "Let me do the worrying for you. I will tell you when you need to worry."

Getting the Diagnosis: How do we deal with this? Can this even happen?

Clinical Psychology: children don't occur in a bubble, they have family, schools, and communities.

Clinical Psychologist: Name the worry and then come up with a plan.

As parents we have the ability to hear information, process it, and push it away so we can function.

A mom to her child with cancer: We talked about being brave. Sometimes she would say "I'm not brave."

Risk of relapse makes the term “end of treatment” hard, but we still celebrate along the way.

A mom about her child with cancer: I don't talk about winning the battle, because there's no winning

A clinician turned parent: The good and the bad of knowing too much.

Caring for children at home: Access to respite care should be top priority.

Caring for a child at home: The preparation is fine, but the continued support is missing.
