Helping children and young people face the death of someone they love

We first met Lily, Bobbie and Louis after a referral from a local hospice. Their mum, Sarah, had recently received a terminal diagnosis of stage 4 metastatic cervical cancer. Sarah’s cancer diagnosis came when she was 21 weeks pregnant with baby Louis. She was able to continue her pregnancy until 30 weeks, when she had to deliver early so she could begin treatment. Following this, Sarah underwent both chemotherapy and radiotherapy and was initially told she was cancer-free. S

We were referred a young 4yr old boy in September 2020 following the sudden death of his father, who had suddenly collapsed outside his bedroom door one night - this was the last time that he saw his Dad. The father was taken to Critical Care where he died unexpectedly 24 hours later. As this was at the start of the pandemic, family were not allowed in to visit or to be present to say their goodbyes. We first met this little boy less than a week after the death, he had been t

We will never forget that night. It was May 14th 2023, and we had been told that Becky’s cancer, which had only been diagnosed for a few weeks, was serious and that it was unlikely she would survive the night. We were totally devastated but we knew we had one task that had to be managed right and that was to break the news to Bobby & Myla (her two children aged 6 and 9). How do you even begin? The children knew mummy was poorly, but they did not know any of the details, as we

Writing my story was a challenge, as it meant revisiting memories and emotions that had been guarded for many years. My story began with my birth, following years of my mum and dad trying to have a child and eventually adopting my older brother. The joy of my arrival was soon overshadowed by my dad’s diagnosis with multiple myeloma when I was only 18 months old. During the early 1980s, this was a rare and formidable cancer, and the only treatment available was at the Royal Ma