Supporting a Loved One

According to the American Cancer Society, three out of every four American families will have at least one family member diagnosed with cancer. Fears of mortality, changing family roles, having your own needs met, and uncertainty about saying the right words at the right time can easily surface when someone you love is diagnosed.

"Caregivers need to give themselves permission to not know the right answers, to just listen.”

“There is certainly a feeling of inadequacy,” states Alison Mayer Sachs, an oncology social worker and the coordinator of cancer support services at the Eisenhower Lucy Curci Cancer Center in Rancho Mirage, California. “There is also the feeling that there are words out there, and if they only knew what the ‘magic words' were, they could make the patient feel better. Caregivers need to give themselves permission to not know the right answers, to just listen.”