How Would You Tell A Child What Cancer Is?

hi neildc well one definition I came across is uncontrolled abnormal cells in various places in the body that is what a cancer basically is. I do not have any other simpler answer. maybe some of out medical people on mylot can help out here I am hoping. good luck a nd God bless..

The best way to explain is to tell the child or the person that cancer is bad bug that eats the good bugs and in his case the bad bugs are winning. Most kids understand. Adults do not. A child is more receptive to things we adults don't want to know about. Take care when explaining and remember to stay simple.

I would give them explanation of what cells are. Then tell him that cancer is this awfully enemy to cells, something that invades them and makes them go crazy and it makes us very sick. SOme people die from it.

These are rogue cells that grow out of control and take over the good cells. What this means is the good cells can't do their duty by keeping the body working so if the bad guys win the body stops living.

I had to explain what cancer is to my daughter when she was seven because she saw her grandma dying from it. I told her it was bad cells that took over her body and caused her heart to stop; it was the simplest way I could think of giving her an explanation. If it was afflicted by this terrible illness I would want to be told exactly what is going on in my body but in the case of children it is a lot to get their heads around. Having said that I think they should always be given an answer to any question they ask even if we have to struggle to find an appropriate answer!

Honestly, that is one of the toughest questions ever, sweetie. I have no idea what causes it or how it start. And to try and explain that to a child. I hope i never have to do that. TATA.

I think that I will never be able to to that.Instead I would give that poor child all the love and care in the world that would help a lot in the recovery.Yeah,Let us all think of the best and positive.

The only way you can explain to anyone about cancer is to tell them that everybody has cancer cells in their body and it will not develop into a full blown cancer if it is not triggered by over indulgence in foods or not taking care of our nutrition. Our body cells are the armies that guard our bodies and they have to be well nourished so they can provide good protection to the body and to evade from potential attack from enemies ie the cancer cells .

I can't imagine having to tell a child that. That would be an awful thing to have to do. I think most adults would know about cancer but a little fellow wouldn't. I hope i never have to do that or anyone else either.

It would be very difficult for a child to understand if we would go into medical terms and explanation. Perhaps it is sufficient to say that cancer is a killer disease and very hard to cure so everyone should make sure to practice healthy eating and clean living to minimize the probability of getting this disease. I am happy there are many alternative ways by which cancer could now be healed provided it is discovered in earlier stage. Natural medicine has been proven to be very effective actually for as long as the patient would cooperate.

it would depend on the child, and i guess thier age as well. but sometime its easier to keep it simple with kids. you dont need to go into details if they are younger, but if they are teens then you might be able too

neildc, my younger daughter and her friends have strange ways to celebrate their birthdays. One time, they decided to give the children afflicted with cancer at the East Avenue Medical Center. My daughter said there was a two year old who had lost his baby hair to chemo. And there was a 4 year old who sang and dance to the program they prepared to cheer the children up. But the children were not sad at all with their condition. For them, their cancer is their life. They just have to live with the illness. Children readily accept what their fate is. That is why I love children so much. They do not complain too much even when they are in pain.

hello neil, It is not easy to explain what is cancer esp to a child. Ok,maybe,you can try using some visualization. Took a tomato as an example,one tomato with a rotten part,and a good one. You can simply start by asking simple questions,like,what is the name of that fruit. Then,asks him which is a good/healthy fruit,and which one is slowly getting rotten. Next is,you can tell him the difference between the two tomato. You also asked him questions,what would be the reason why the other one is starting to rot. Let the topic flows,and slowly explain him the connection with rotten tomato and cancer. A kid needs visual aids to help them understand easily what we are trying to figure out. Have a good day always my dear brother

Talk to the kid about bad cells growing in the body. You might want to touch a little on how these bad cells developed by explaining about the dangers of smoking and other bad health practices.

i dont know if this will help you our not but when my mother in law got cancer i had to explain it to my grand children and i just told them that it is like a germ and it get in the system and it grow and grow's but i also back it up with them there has been people that has lived with cancer and the doctor got it all out and they our still alive but them there ours people that god call's home to him for some reason .