RE: Supporting an autistic child with parent with cancer

Hi there, sorry to hear you're going through the same thing.

I have to say that I haven't found anything specific for this particular situation. I've asked on cancer groups and on autism groups and not found anything. 

Husband is about to have his last round of chemo for this cycle and, in the main, things have been 'okay'. We've tried to be as honest as we feel we can with our daughter and don't avoid mentioning 'cancer' or 'chemo' if it's relevant, being quite factual about stuff and trying to keep to her routines as much as possible. We try and use humour where we can, joking about Daddy playing the 'Cancer Card' when he can't manage things he would have previously. He tries to spend time with her everyday if he can, even if it's just having a cuddle in bed and laughing at cat videos.

She's had some emotional/behavioural ups and downs over the last few months but there are other things going on for her that impact this too.

I'm not sure if any of this is helpful with a younger child, we're just taking things a day at a time and trying to keep things as calm and regulated as we can. 

I hope things go as smoothly as they can, remember to take care of yourself as well, caring for someone with cancer as well as an autistic kid is a lot.

Sara

Hi Lucy332 and pyewatchet,

I just wanted to let you know that I have moved your follow-up posts (above) out of the original thread in the Ask an Information and Support Adviser forum, and have put them in this new discussion thread in the Family and friends forum.

I think the topic you're discussing is a really important conversation that could do with being seen by more Community members!

Apologies for any confusion caused by the move. It's just that our "Ask an Expert" forums are usually set to only allow replies from the original poster of the question, and Macmillan members of staff. Owing to a small technical hitch, other members were temporarily able to post replies.

Back on the topic, I was able to find a few other conversations where this subject has been talked about in the past, which you can see appear amongst the results of the following forum search:

• Search the Online Community for Autism/Children/Cancer

Not all the results are relevant, but don't forget to keep looking on page 2 and beyond of the results for more.

Lastly, we have a blog that covers some general thoughts on telling children about cancer, which contains links to some of our support resources on the subject.

We're now looking at ways we can better cover the topic of telling children and young people with additional needs, but in the meantime don't forget you can always reach out to our Support Line advisers for further help.

Similar situation here with 14 y.o autistic daughter. I havent found anything specific yet but some good advice from Autistic girls network group on Facebook from others who have lived experience