This website is full of resources, contributed to by parents who have already walked this road, to take some of the friction out of navigating your new life.

Early into our child’s cancer diagnosis, my partner said to me, “We’re not here to thrive. We’re here to survive.” While I appreciate that perspective, let’s face it: there are better and worse ways to survive. Life can always be made easier with a bit of thought and planning. But as a parent of a child with a cancer diagnosis, when you are facing so much uncertainty, the ability to think clearly and calmly about what needs to happen (or simply could happen to make life better) can be really, really difficult.

I’ve created a series of resources that take all the thinking out of surviving well. They’re what I wish I had when we got told that our toddler had high risk hepatoblastoma and I was 32 weeks pregnant with our second child. All I could think of at the time was the worst expletive on repeat, followed by “How on earth are we going to do this?”

This website is arranged into areas of concern. For example, you’re going to be inundated with people saying “Let me know how I can help” or “Tell me what you need,” and all you’re going to be able to think is, “I need my child to not have cancer.” The “How People Can Help You” section makes it really easy for you to put a tick next to things that would be actually helpful for your family to receive from people.

You might start spending an enormous amount of time admitted to hospital. The “Making Hospital Days Better” section includes hospital packing lists, a “Best presents for each age” list to keep your little one from being bored senseless, and a series of suggestions for things you might be able to access in your hospital that will help you and your child.

Check out the other sections too, on managing anxiety, managing your child’s treatment, managing work, and keeping people informed. They’re full of ideas and approaches that have worked for others.

My hope is that this website helps you in some way. Childhood cancer is such a hard road to walk, but many others have walked it before you. We’re all cheering you on from here.