They are four words that can terrify any parent to the core: Your child has cancer. The shock and demands of that diagnosis can be overwhelming for the parents, children, family members, and friends, as they face the emotions along with the need to understand what the diagnosis means, what treatments are available and which are right for them. In this book there is support for all. Written by a specialist in Pediatric Oncology, who is herself a cancer patient as well as the mother of three young children, this guide offers clearly stated and comprehensive information about the cancers that strike our youngest.Dr. Howell explains the 12 types of childhood cancer including the most common leukaemia's and tumours of the brain and nervous system. She tells us what the overall prognosis is and how cancers affect children differently than they do adults, as well as what little is known about the causes, and she details the controversies on that subject. The author explains common procedures and tests before, during, and after therapy, as well as the potential side effects. This compassionate physician does not ignore the vitally important issues of emotion - how to find the calm and strength to help the child or teen and be his or her best advocate, how to tell the child the diagnosis, what questions to anticipate, and how to deal with other family members and friends.