Fear, uncertainty, sadness and anger. Cancer affects all family members. It also raises many questions for children. At the Kasam Foundation they want to help those children by talking about it with each other.
Five years ago, Brigitte Bruin founded the Kasam Foundation. She saw what her own diagnosis did to her children and ultimately wants to help as many children as possible throughout the Netherlands. “I would have informed my children immediately,” Bruin reflects. “We didn’t dare say that I had cancer, only when I knew that I had no metastases. But they still felt those tensions.”
Collaboration with the Vicki Brown House
The meetings, which are organized in the Vicki Brown House, are for children between the ages of six and thirteen. The rest of the family is also allowed to attend some of the nine meetings in total. “Knowing, talking, feeling and doing together is powerful in cancer. So we talk and we have activities. Children are busy with ‘what awaits me.’
Lilian van Staa, from the Vicki Brown House, knows that it produces beautiful things. “Anything that is difficult for you to tackle yourself is discussed during the meetings. This results in beautiful connections.”
Angry or scared, you see a lot. That children are not good at dealing with their feelings.
Brigitte Bruin, Kasam Foundation
Roles change
“A parent changes in his role, becomes ill, and is therefore no longer always available. Uncertainty enters the family. That does something to the elderly, but it also does something to the children,” says Bruin.
Research shows that 70% of children who are diagnosed with cancer in the family do reasonably well. The coaches see that children at school want to participate as normally as possible and bottle up their feelings. “You are amazed at how many children are affected by cancer. One in two, it is said nowadays. If you look deeper into it, you find out how much that affects a child. How many emotions are involved,” says Van Stand.
Sponsors
“Angry rather than afraid, you see a lot. That children cannot handle their feelings well.” The meetings should help with this. Registering for the program is free. The foundation is therefore looking for sponsors to make the meetings possible.
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2023-12-15 14:49:30
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