Hello
My son, age 11 months finished his chemo therapy for neuroblastoma in January 2025
Myself and my husband (both have had chicken pox in the past) have been invited to a wedding on Saturday, our son will not be attendings. However the brides son has chickenpox (since Sunday).
Our son has not had chicken pox in the past and so we wondered if we would be able to pass the chicken pox to him by attending the wedding?
Hi AMM,
Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to our online community. I hope you find it a helpful space. My name is Kelly and I’m one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support line.
I hope that your son is recovering well after his treatment for neuroblastoma. It’s understandable to want to make sure he isn’t exposed to any infection at this time.
Your question about the chicken pox virus and risk of exposure to anyone who has had treatment for cancer is a good one. We would always advise erring on the side of caution if there could be a risk of exposing your son to this. Especially as his immune system may still be improving after chemotherapy.
As it is still very recent that your son had treatment, we would encourage you to get more tailored advice from his consultant or named cancer nurse specialist for advice about this. They are best placed to give you the most accurate advice about individual risks if he were exposed to the chickenpox virus at this time.
Although it is rare for adults to catch chickenpox again it is possible for the virus to be reactivated in the body and cause shingles. This is still infectious and if you have shingles you can pass chickenpox to someone who has never had it before. It may not be clear straight away if you have been exposed to the chicken pox virus or have shingles as symptoms may still not appear until 1 to 3 weeks later in some cases.
This can be confusing and I hope this information about chicken pox and shingles helps make more sense.
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch again. We often find that we can help people more by talking to them directly. You can speak to one of our experiences cancer information nurses by calling our free helpline on 0808 808 00 00 or by webchat seven days a week 8am-8pm. You can also email us back and we aim to reply within two working days.
Kind regards,
Kelly
Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
Ref: KA/VG
