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The stage of a cancer means the size of the tumour and whether or not it has spread beyond where it started in the body. Knowing the extent of the cancer helps doctors decide on the best treatment for your child.

In this section, you will find some ideas that you may wish to think about when you are trying to face the fact that your child is probably going to die. Knowing what has helped other families in a similar situation may help you find your own way of facing this difficult time.

In this section, we suggest how you can start preparing and talking to your ill child about what is happening to them. It is difficult to decide how much you tell your child and when. We offer some ideas and words that have been used by other people.

This section offers advice about preparing and talking to your other children about their brother or sister who is likely to die. It also addresses the tricky issue of how they might react.

In this section you will find information about how children make sense of, and understand, death and dying. Children’s ideas change as they develop and according to previous experiences.

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Children’s wards are relaxed and friendly places that give you and your child as positive an experience as possible. You’re likely to get to know the staff well.

A team of specialists will plan the treatment they feel is best for your child’s condition.

The Paediatric Oncology Shared Care services allows children and young people with cancer to be treated closer to home so that families do not need to travel long distances to the nearest principal treatment centre for some procedures.

This section offers suggestions about coping in the last few days of your child’s life and how you might try and meet the needs of all your family. It also looks at feelings families have experienced about what happens at the end of life, and what has helped them and their child.