The award-winning Contact magazine is a free quarterly magazine for families of children and young people with cancer.
Launched in 2004, it acts as an essential source of information and reduces the isolation that families with children diagnosed with a rare disease, such as cancer, inevitably face. Each themed issue focuses on one aspect of cancer in children and young people, and contains informative articles by childhood cancer professionals and stories from parents, young people and childhood cancer survivors.
In this issue, we take a closer look at how resilience is tested throughout the cancer journey. We speak to experts who share strategies for managing your well-being and mental health, and hear inspiring words from those who have gone through their own cancer journey.
In this edition of Contact, we hear from several wonderful organisations who, through their various programmes, offer valuable practical and emotional support to siblings. Experts share helpful tips, advice, strategies, and resources for adults to help them support brothers and sisters, of all ages, of a child or young person with cancer. We also hear from parents and siblings themselves, who have kindly shared the challenges they’ve faced, as well as the support they’ve received, and from whom, along the way.
In this edition, we explore how children or young people might feel about their body image when confronted with changes to their appearance, as well as what might help them. We hear how parents and caregivers can play a key role by initiating honest conversations, providing reassurance, and celebrating strengths beyond appearance. Healthcare teams and charities can also help by introducing support like therapy or counselling, peer support groups, and practical tips for managing visible side effects.
The human body relies on blood to perform many functions for it to operate as it should do. But cancer and its treatments can affect the blood in many ways. In this edition of Contact, we find out how cancer and its treatment may affect a person's blood and how doctors tackle this.
In this edition, we hear from many different people who have navigated the world of children and young people’s cancer, and what has given them hope, even in the most challenging of times. We also hear from researchers and professionals on why, with new initiatives and pioneering research, there’s reason to be hopeful for the future.
What does good employer support for parents, patients and survivors look like? What are their legal rights? In this edition, we hear a variety of experiences from parents and survivors about how their place of work did – or, in some cases, didn’t – support them and the impact this had.
In this edition, we explore how each individual’s communication needs are unique – shaped by their personal experiences and preferred ways of sharing and receiving information.
This issue showcases many examples of how patients and families have empowered themselves to help them face the challenges of cancer.
This issue explores the range of different relationships that families face when their child is diagnosed with cancer. Patients and families begin an unfamiliar journey of trying to navigate existing relationships as well as forging new ones, such as when meeting other families on the ward and hospital staff. Each relationship comes with different expectations, benefits and challenges, but the importance of human connection in times of struggle is still the same.
In this issue of Contact magazine, all about education, we hear from parents, patients, professionals and teachers about their experiences of education, school and childhood cancer.
