For cancer patients, family support can mean everything. In an absolutely adorable video that has gone viral across the internet, a young boy asks his mother who is battling cancer to remove her cancer turban so he can embrace her bald head.
In a Facebook video posted by Neshele Roach, who is battling breast cancer, her son asks Roach to remove her cancer turban a head covering often worn by women to conceal hair loss and embraces her in a hug and lots of kisses in a touching moment. Although Roach has not gone into detail about her breast cancer diagnosis, she has been transparent on her social media channel about how she is handling treatment. In another post, she shared a few photos and videos of her announcing that she had gone bald.
Read MoreWhen I say this boy is everything, he's the true definition of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! ???????? I have no doubts in my mind that I will beat this! I have to, for him. ????????#Fuckcancer #CancerSucks
Posted by Neshele Roach on Sunday, April 19, 2020
Talking To Your Children About Cancer
As a parent battling with cancer, it might be challenging to have an open conversation with your children about the disease and how it will affect you. However, cancer survivors and advocates have told SurvivorNet that it’s critical parents are as open as possible about cancer with their children.
John Duberstein lost his wife Nina to cancer and explained to SurvivorNet that he and his wife tried to be as open with their kids as possible concerning Nina’s diagnosis. Duberstein admits that their children had difficulty at first understanding what the disease meant, but remaining honest with each other helped them get through it.
“I think it’s important to be open with the kids as much as you can, as much as you feel like they can handle,” Duberstein says. “But it’s also important to revisit it and not make assumptions. You actually have to affirmatively counter that narrative with the kids. And you do it gently as much as you can.”
Similarly to Duberstein, ABC News journalist and breast cancer survivor Amy Robach told SurvivorNet that talking to her kids about her diagnosis was extremely difficult for her, but she channeled her strength to do it.
“I’d been out of control and sobbing the whole day, but the moment I saw my daughters, I had the strength come over me, this mom strength, and suddenly when they started to cry, I got strong,” Robach says. “It was really strange. And I was able to tell them the words that the counselor gave me to use, that I was strong, that I was going to fight, that I had the best doctors in the world, and that I wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And it did help them. And feeling their love and feeling their support was amazing. And it helped me get through.”
Related: Ovarian Cancer Survivor Hillary Redwine On Fertility Options During Treatment
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.