When Danel Lawrence was hospitalized at age 15 with leukemia, friends visited every day, just to hang out. "I had to learn to live in that room," says Danel, now 18. "One of the best parts of my day was when my friends would come and sit and watch movies with me." Read Danel's Story >

Listen to Patient Power "Beating Cancer As a Young Adult"

What Am I Doing Here? 

You’re a teenager who has cancer, and you’re probably wondering all sorts of things, like:

• Why me?
• Who gets cancer, anyway?
• Is this my fault?
• How am I supposed to cope with being bald? Zits were bad enough.
• What am I doing here in a children’s hospital with all the little kids?
• Who are all these people—doctors, nurses, nutritionists, art therapists? And why do I need a social worker? Or any of them?
• My family is freaking out—what am I supposed to do?
• Will I ever get my normal life back?

This section of the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) Web site is for teenagers who have cancer. It will answer many of your questions and help you understand what is going on. (For answers to the questions above, plus more, click here.)

These Web pages will also direct you to helpful people at SCCA and Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center. They will also hook you up with other teens living with cancer, in support groups or online.

Then there’s the confusing stuff, like medical terms, clinical trials, and (if you haven’t made these decisions yet) choosing the best hospital and best treatment for you. 

These pages also offer some suggestions for distractions, some to help you forget about cancer for a while, some to help you sort out your feelings.

 

January 2006