When your child is diagnosed with cancer, everything changes — instantly. And when your teen wants to move on while you’re still trying to process it, the experience can feel isolating, overwhelming, and surreal.

In this episode, I sit down with my friend Kelly Stein-Marcus, an extraordinary mom and clinical health psychologist, to talk about her family’s journey through her teenage son Dylan’s Ewing sarcoma diagnosis. Kelly’s husband, a pediatric radiologist, delivered the scan that changed everything — and together, they found themselves navigating the impossible space between professional expertise and parental helplessness.

We explore:

• The surreal shock of the days immediately after diagnosis, when there’s no plan and it feels like life has paused.
• What it’s like to parent a teenager through cancer, when many teens just want to “move on” and leave the experience behind.
• The tension between what parents need to process and celebrate, and what a teen is ready to share.
• How Kelly’s background in psychosocial oncology shaped her perspective, but didn’t protect her from the raw, emotional reality of living it.

This episode is intimate and honest — two moms sharing their experiences, unfiltered, and reflecting on what it really means to hold your child through trauma while trying to stay afloat yourself.

Whether you’re a parent, a professional in the cancer world, or someone who wants to better understand the emotional journey families face, this conversation is a reminder that you’re not alone — and that even in the darkest, most disorienting moments, there is strength, resilience, and love.

Key Topics: Teen Cancer, Pediatric Oncology, Ewing Sarcoma, Parenting Through Trauma, Parental Helplessness, Psychosocial Oncology, Family Resilience, Adolescent Experience

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I speak with Susan, founder of OPAAC (Ontario Parents Advocating for Childhood Cancer), about the development of parent-led advocacy in pediatric oncology. Susan shares how her daughter’s diagnosis in 1995 led to her becoming a parent liaison at SickKids Hospital and eventually establishing OPAAC in 1997. Today, it remains the only parent-led childhood cancer advocacy organization of its kind in Ontario.

Our conversation explores how advocacy often begins with lived experience and evolves into structured, system-level engagement. Susan explains the difference between “Big A” advocacy — policy work, formal partnerships, and participation in hospital decision-making — and “Little a” advocacy, which includes peer support, attending appointments with parents, and staying connected to families during and after treatment.

We talk about why parents can feel overlooked within the healthcare system, how support needs change significantly once treatment ends, and why relationship-building with healthcare teams is essential for sustainable change. The episode offers a practical look at how parents can move from emotional response to effective advocacy, and how organizations like OPAAC create meaningful support for families across the treatment continuum.

You can find out more about Susan and OPACC here: https://www.opacc.org/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I'm privileged to chat with Recreational Therapist and owner of Flow Recreation Therapy and Consulting, Danielle Scarlett, about the hard conversations no parent wants to have with their children. We work through every topic from how to tell our kids they have cancer, what to say when something is going to hurt, how to approach end of life conversations, and what to do when there are simply no words. Danielle shares practical guidance for starting these conversations in age-appropriate ways, inviting children into an open dialogue, and allowing space for uncertainty and emotion—both the child’s and the parent’s. From the power of saying “I don’t know” to the important distinction between "protecting" versus "supporting", this episode offers reassurance that there is no perfect script—only presence, honesty, and the willingness to keep the conversation going as children and parents process their cancer diagnosis together.

You can find Danielle here https://flowrecreationtherapy.ca/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.