Family Support

WE CAN Pediatric Brain Tumor Network
We Can offers information and emotional support to families whose children have brain tumors.

Pediatric Oncology Resource Center
A website for parents, friends, and families of children who have or had childhood cancer.

Faith's Lodge
Faith's Lodge provides a place where parents and families facing the serious illness or death of a child can retreat to reflect on the past, renew strength for the present, and build hope for the future.

SuperSibs!
Dedicated to ensuring ongoing comfort, recognition, and support to children with brothers or sisters who have cancer. SuperSibs! helps these siblings redefine the cancer experience to use these life lessons for strength, courage, and hope as they move into the future.

Sibling Support Project
The Sibling Support Project is a national effort dedicated to the lifelong concerns of brothers and sisters of people who have special health, developmental, or mental health concerns.

Grief Support

New Hope Grief Support Community
New Hope Grief Support Community helps grieving people find hope and healing.

Comfort Zone Camp
Comfort Zone Camp is the national's largest bereavment camp. Comfort Zone Camps are offered free of charge to children ages 7-17 who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. The camps are held year-round in California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Virginia. Comfort Zone Camps create an environment where grieving children can have fun and break the isolation death often brings, while learning valuable coping skills for their daily lives.

The M.I.S.S. Foundation
The MISS Foundation is a nonprofit corporation committed to help families discover hope and eventually heal from the trauma of a child's death.

Cancer.Net Special article: Coping With Change After Loss
The death of a loved one creates many changes for surviving family members. These range from changes in household routines to changes in priorities or plans for the future.

HospiceNet.org Special article: Talking to Children About Death
If you are concerned about discussing death with your children, you're not alone. Many of us hesitate to talk about death, particularly with youngsters.

Psalm 23 Ministry
Research shows that religion plays a vital role in helping people cope with cancer, both mentally and physically. The psychological benefits of prayer include: reduction of stress and anxiety; promotion of a more positive outlook; and a strengthening of the will to live.

Hospice/Palliative Care

National Cancer Institute
Coping with Cancer: Support and Palliative Care
Palliative care is different from hospice care. Although hospice care has the same principles of comfort and support, palliative care is offered earlier in the disease process.

Children's Hospice & Palliative Care Coalition
The Southern California Pediatric Palliative Care Network (SCPPN) is a collaborative network dedicated to improving the quality of life and quality of care for children with life-threatning conditions by promoting excellence in compassionate, family-centered palliative care.

Resources and Support Organizations

National Cancer Institute
When Your Brother or Sister Has Cancer: A Guide for Teens
You've just learned that your brother or sister has cancer. You may feel a lot of emotions: numb, fear, loneliness, or anger. One thing is certain - you don't feel good. It's normal to feel scared. Some of your fears may be real; others may be based on things that won't happen, and some fears may lessen over time.

Cancer.net
Camps and Retreats for Families and Children Touched by Cancer
A resource list

The Sunshine Kids
The Sunshine Kids Foundation aids quality of life for children with cancer by providing them with exciting, positive group activities so they may once again do what kids are supposed to do - have fun and celebrate life!

Wish-Granting Organizations (The Family Village)
A resource list

Brave Kids.org
Helps children with chronic, life-threatening illnesses or disabilities by connecting them to medical information and resources such as financial assistance, camps, support groups, dental assistance, childcare, and health services.

Southern California Resources

New Hope Grief Support
New Hope Grief Support Community is based in Long Beach, CA.

WE CAN Pediatric Brain Tumor Network
A Los Angeles based support group of parents of children with brain tumors.

Websites for Medical Updates

Caring Bridge
CaringBridge is a valuable resource for families facing cancer, premature birth, heart disease, or any serious medical situation. The personal and private CaringBridge website allows families to: journal about their treatment and recovery; ask for help with meals and transportation; express their spirituality; and receive love and support from family and friends.

MyLifeLine.org
A nonprofit organization that encourages cancer patients and caregivers to create free customized websites. A patient - or a friend or family member - creats the site and invites guests to visit and participate in the online community.

Patient Advocate Foundation
Mission: To provide effective mediation and arbiration services to patients to remove obstacles to healthcare, including medical debt crisis, insurance access issues, and employment issues for patients with chronic, debilitating, and life-threatening illnesses.

Young Adults

The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults
Mission: We enhance lives by supporting, educating, and connecting young adults, and their loved ones, affected by cancer.

Additional Resources

National Marrow Donor Program
Thousands of patients hope for a bone marrow donor who can make their life-saving transplant possible. They depend on people like you. You have the power to save a life. Take the first step today.

Fertile Hope
Fertile Hope is a national LIVESTRONG initiative dedicated to providing reporductive information, support, and hope to cancer patients and survivors whose medical treatments present the risk of infertility.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
Mission: To introduce rememberance photography to parents suffering the loss of a baby with the gift of a professional portraiture. We believe these images serve as an important step in the family's healing process by honoring their child's legacy.