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The Space Between is the podcast where strength and vulnerability meet for families navigating life with cancer.
Hosted by Amri Kibbler, a cancer survivor and parent, each episode offers honest stories, expert insights, and heartfelt support for those balancing treatment, caregiving, and parenting - often all at once.
If you're walking this path, you’re not alone. This is your space to feel seen, find connection, and heal.
[00:00:00] Elish McGrath: There's no script for this. Every child is their own individual. I think putting the lead in the child's hand, like starting with a question like, what do you think is happening with me? It just opens the door and listen. When you're having an open, honest conversation with your child, letting them take the lead, I think it's really difficult to make a mistake at that point.
[00:00:29] Amri Kibbler: Hi, I am Amri Kibbler, and this is The Space Between. I'm a cancer survivor and a mom, and while those roles don't define me, they have shaped who I am. I created this space to share honest stories, expert insights, and meaningful support for families navigating life with cancer. If you're balancing treatment, caregiving, parenting, or just trying to hold it all together, you are not alone.
[00:00:52] Amri Kibbler: This is your space to connect, to heal, and to feel seen, and I'm so glad that you're here today on The Space Between. We're diving into something that's both personal for me and urgent how cancer is changing, especially for people in their thirties and forties who are raising families, building careers, and suddenly facing the unimaginable As a cancer survivor, myself and a mom, this topic hits close to home.
[00:01:18] Amri Kibbler: We're seeing a shift in who gets cancer and it's reshaping what survivorship and support needs to look like. We're starting with Maribel Vargas, associate Director, American Cancer Society Partnerships to help us understand what's happening. Then we'll hear from two women supporting those Navigating Cancer.
[00:01:36] Amri Kibbler: In Westchester, New York Elish McGrath, director of Patient Services, Cancer Support Team, and Jennifer Ricca, a certified Child life specialist, CTF Program Manager, Cancer Support Community, with extensive training in supporting children through medical crisis and the emotional challenges of grief and loss.
[00:01:58] Amri Kibbler: Maribel, welcome to The Space Between. I'm so happy to have you here today. Thank you so much, Amri. It's my pleasure to be here. Amazing. Let's get started with the big picture. The good news is that overall cancer rates are going down, but something that's surprising and honestly super scary is that cancer rates for people under the age of 50 seem to be rising.
[00:02:22] Amri Kibbler: Mariel, can you walk us through some of the trends that you're seeing and what's happening right now? Absolutely.
[00:02:28] Maribel Vargas: Yeah. At American Cancer Society, we have some statistics that we call cancer facts and figures, and we have each year predictions about, like, we take all the different type of sources that we have and we make a projection about what is gonna happen each year.
[00:02:43] Maribel Vargas: And our projections are very accurate. For 2025, we have seen that more than 2 million people cases, we are gonna be diagnosed with cancer. Any type of cancer in the United States, just in this year, and it is estimated that around 600,000 people is gonna die for it. We have seen different trends regarding different type of cancers, but we, if we wanna focus on what, which ones are the most important ones, we can see that the cancer that is most prominent is the breast cancer.
[00:03:16] Maribel Vargas: The second one is the prostate, the third one is the lung. Skin and colorectal. Sometimes we have this distinction between colorectal and just the colon because we have like different type of types. But if we talk about this is the sex combined, and if we talk just about the breast cancer cases, this is estimated more than 300,000 cases that we are gonna see in this year in 2025.
[00:03:42] Maribel Vargas: Of course, the trends are due to our lifestyle and due to behavioral factors that we have seen around our modern lives, and some of the lifestyle are related to obesity, poor diets with the type of food that we're eating. Sometimes the extra use of ultra processed food, sugar, alcohol, environmental, and all of these are related to also screenings who are key components and considerations for all these trends that we have seen in these years.
[00:04:14] Amri Kibbler: Maribel, when you were speaking about some of the risk factors, it made me think about that great quiz that you have. Could you share a little bit about the CancerRisk360?
[00:04:26] Maribel Vargas: Absolutely. If you are listening and you are wondering, what is my cancer risk? You are not alone. More than knowing about a fear is to be informed.
[00:04:35] Maribel Vargas: Be proactive and be prepared about how can we like have the information that we must need. American Cancer Society developed this tool that is called CancerRisk360, and you can download it in any type of platform that you have. And this tool is gonna help you to understand the risk that we have.
[00:04:55] Maribel Vargas: How does this work? It's very easy. Please go to cancer.org/CancerRisk360, and you're gonna answer some questions related to your age, lifestyle, regarding to history, family history about that you have, and you will receive a personalized risk summary about what is your cancer risk level. You're gonna find recommendations about what the screening timelines that we are suggesting.
[00:05:21] Maribel Vargas: And if you need like resources, we are gonna give you the links where you can find them. These tool is evaluating the risk and it's gonna give you tailored prevention advice about how can we easily understand and personalize this service and. Many of the cancers like colorectal, breast, cervical or lung, they are preventable.
[00:05:44] Maribel Vargas: If they are treatable, like uncut early and most people overestimate or we underestimate the risk, right? We thought that is not gonna happen to us, and that is very important to take action, to prioritize our screenings, to make healthier choices and advocate for ourselves. Even though you think that cancer runs your family, or I haven't been screened yet, or even I feel fine, we want to be sure that please visit The Cancer 360 is powerful.
[00:06:14] Maribel Vargas: It's accessible, and it's the first step to have more information about how can we do more, be better, and just keep healthy. I mean, it's not just for ourselves, it's for our families and our communities too.
[00:06:27] Amri Kibbler: It's such an amazing tool. So I took the quiz recently and they even have call outs there to ask if you've had another type of cancer.
[00:06:35] Amri Kibbler: So it's not just for people that have never had cancer. If you've had cancer, it can help you to understand your risk of developing other types of cancer too. I wanna go back to the statistics though just a little bit. Can you share what are some of the top cancers that are affecting younger people today?
[00:06:52] Amri Kibbler: People that are under 50? Absolutely.
[00:06:55] Maribel Vargas: I mean, we have seen that. The first one is breast cancer. Breast cancer is the one who is increasing, especially in women younger than 40. And colorectal cancer is one of the most alarming trends, often diagnosed at a late stage. Younger people between their twenties and their thirties.
[00:07:12] Maribel Vargas: We have seen like a huge spike on those segments of age and other cancers who we have seen a, a lighter trend is like thyroid, uterine, pancreatic, stomach, and liver. Who are targeting specific younger populations, not all the younger populations, but some specific combinations of younger populations with the specific ethnicities.
[00:07:35] Amri Kibbler: And thinking about this sort of new face of cancer and new, changing, shifting demographic, how do you think that's gonna be changing survivorship and how is the American Cancer Society thinking about that?
[00:07:49] Maribel Vargas: Absolutely. Survivorship is something that has changed lately, like very fast, which is really good.
[00:07:56] Maribel Vargas: And the reason is because we have better treatments. All the research we have been conducting, all the navigation that is done by health systems. And even though technology and AI is really. Giving a huge change to all these different mother ways to diagnose and treat patients. All the new like CAR T cells, treatments, all the new advance, everything.
[00:08:19] Maribel Vargas: Usually helping to getting varied rates of survivorship and the personalized medicine. And we, if we compare how many people survive in 1970s, it was 50% of the people who they were diagnosed with cancer were surviving. We are talking about just like the half of the people last year on 2024, we had 69%. Of survivorship rates in general, which is great.
[00:08:45] Maribel Vargas: I think if we see the trends, we can see clearly how the progress we have been doing with treatments, with screenings and more information about what we have to do. And we will talk about the trends. Again, we know that, for example, for pancreatic cancer is really low, right? The survivor, she, it is hard because it's very hard to detect and sometimes when you have a diagnosis, many times it's very advanced, right?
[00:09:11] Maribel Vargas: And the same for the colorectal or some of the cervical type of cancers. Those ones are kind of called like the silence ones because we don't have symptoms and or the symptoms are so mild that we think, oh, it is just like I'm tired because I'm busy, or just I feel like I'm hungry, but it's maybe because I'm nervous or I'm, I mean I'm 20 or I'm 30.
[00:09:33] Maribel Vargas: I mean, how, who's gonna think that? And, uh, we have seen that. And we just want to be sure that, uh, people don't give it for, for a fact. We need to advocate for ourselves and we need to check all these symptoms even though they are mild. We have to be like, be checked and just to be sure that is Anything else.
[00:09:50] Maribel Vargas: For breast cancer, who is the most common one? When the cancer is called, when it's localized, the trend, I mean, due it to the early detection and farco therapy, we have very good rates. And also for colorectal or for some time of melanomas, the trends are like. Good in terms of survivorship. I mean, once it caught early, and that's due to the better treatments that we have been diagnosing and, um, treating patients with
[00:10:20] Amri Kibbler: and seeing this increased rates in survivorship, which is amazing, such great news.
[00:10:26] Amri Kibbler: And then seeing more younger people getting cancer. So we're having a larger demographic, seeing some younger people that are within that group. What kind of support are survivors gonna be needing today and tomorrow?
[00:10:39] Maribel Vargas: Absolutely. At American Cancer Society, we know that there's shifts in paradigms. I mean, in the past we thought that cancer was for like.
[00:10:49] Maribel Vargas: Older people. But no, we have seen the shift and how it is affecting everything. And we, at American Cancer Society, we have different programs. Some of the programs that we have is called Cancer Survivor Network, and this one is like top of different chats where we have specialized for patients and caregivers, family members who everybody can come together and they can talk about different type of questions.
[00:11:13] Maribel Vargas: They might have Questions about fertility are very common. Future planning about the coming back to our workplace and how all our mental health, psycholo, psychosocial health, where can we find it? Support groups, everything is related to the different type of things that we might need. And I invite people to call the American Cancer Society with a headline that is 24 7.
[00:11:38] Maribel Vargas: Anybody can call. Anytime and you can have all this information available for you. If you have questions about fertility, about how can you preserve or having access to preservation or ex preservation, this is something that is impactful. How can we impacting pregnancy or parenting or sexual health?
[00:11:58] Maribel Vargas: These ones are important topics that patients and caregivers are like worried about and completely understandable. And that is something we need to know, something that we can prepare for. And also we have policy and advocacy, uh, group that is called the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
[00:12:19] Maribel Vargas: And we are. Pushing to have like more screenings for people to have better terms when we are working or a different type of, even though for like having like young adults joining the workforce and everything, how can we help them to get a better, uh, resources and better accommodations in their works or if they have questions about anything of that.
[00:12:42] Amri Kibbler: So for every cancer diagnosis, there's a ripple effect, factors, partners, kids, friends, coworkers. What are some of the key ways that American Cancer Society supports caregivers and families? Thank you, AMRI.
[00:12:55] Maribel Vargas: I think that is an excellent question and thank you for bringing this up. Cancer doesn't affect one person, right?
[00:13:01] Maribel Vargas: Cancer affects everybody. A affects poses, children, coworkers, friends, neighbors, family members. Here at American Cancer Society, we recognize that challenges part that everybody encompasses patients and the community with health. Because of that, we have a program that is called Road to Recovery. This is a free transportation program where we have volunteers trained and they are volunteers who drive patients to and from cancer treatments for free.
[00:13:31] Maribel Vargas: And the only thing people needs to do is to call our 800 number and request the ride. If anybody eats, uh, going to have chemotherapy or anybody's gonna have radiation or any doctor appointment. We know that our partners need to work and they cannot drive us all the time. And many times it is dangerous to drive when you are in treatment.
[00:13:50] Maribel Vargas: Then because of that, we have these service available. We talk about the searching tool. You can go there as we look transportation for your safeguard and just checking if that program is available, but. Besides the transportation programs, we also have a lodging program that is called Hop Lodge is the name.
[00:14:07] Maribel Vargas: Our buildings. We have 31 buildings around the United States and people many times they need to travel for treatment. And this building that we have is in 32nd Street, is just from Penn Station. And it's a beautiful way to, if you need to come and you're gonna stay and just speak with your caregiver. And we provide these services for free also.
[00:14:29] Maribel Vargas: And it's for anybody who needs to come more than 30 miles or 40 miles or more than one hour driving. And this service is available for anybody who needs to come for a clinical trial or for a treatment. And also we also have a partnership with Extended Stay America, that this is the hotel for the places that we don't have the hub lodge.
[00:14:47] Maribel Vargas: And you can also find information in our website or in our phone number.
[00:14:52] Amri Kibbler: And so Maribel, how can people find local resources if they're, say, trying to find one-to-one support or parenting support, or maybe they need a dentist or something like that in their local area?
[00:15:05] Maribel Vargas: Absolutely. We have a searcher in our website and if you go to our website, go to patient support and you can find their like resources available and if you type anything that you need that you mention, emry, I mean, it could be a dentist or the pet.
[00:15:20] Maribel Vargas: It could be something related to food insecurity or something related, a legal advice services for free, or it could be education or help with children. Or daycares or help cleaning your house. All those services are composed here and you type whatever you need and the zip code where you need the services and the search is gonna come and you will be able to find all the different resources available on your zip code.
[00:15:50] Maribel Vargas: And you can look at the zippo where you work and you can look at the zip code where you live, or maybe your parents or families or friends live, and you can see different services that they are available depending on what you're needing. We know that as a young parents, I mean everything gets disrupt and we need extra help.
[00:16:06] Maribel Vargas: I mean, we need to drop the children's or school. We need to really pay attention to depth and doctor's appointments and our work. And it's like a very. Complex system where we need to find resources and they are available. If anybody who is listening, uh, I mean you need any resources, please visit our website.
[00:16:26] Maribel Vargas: It's cancer.org and you go to patient support and you can explore a little bit about the services, but all the different type of resources available for you are compiled on that, on that searcher. And each six months we check that all those services are still available for you and you speak different languages.
[00:16:46] Maribel Vargas: If English is not your main language, you can translate all this information on your native language. You speak Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese. We have more than 20 different languages available and that information, you can send it to you by email, by text, and or you can share it with anybody who is interested in receiving the information.
[00:17:06] Maribel Vargas: The information you can find is the phone number, the address, the description of the programs, and they help they have available for you.
[00:17:14] Amri Kibbler: Amazing. And I think as we're talking about local resources, this would be a great time to bring on our friends from Cancer Support Team and Cancer Support Community to talk to us about how we can communicate and talk to our kids about everything that's happening with the cancer diagnosis and ongoing.
[00:17:34] Amri Kibbler: Absolutely. Thank you for joining us, Maribel. Thank you. I teamed up with Stacy Igel and Elyse Ryan to create S.E.A. Waves of Support: healing selenite bracelet sets. You keep one and gift the other to someone facing cancer or life's challenges. A powerful reminder, they're not alone. Learn more at seawavesofsupport.com.
[00:17:57] Jennifer Ricca: Hi, my name is Jennifer Ricca and I am the children, teens and family manager at Cancer Support Community, greater New York and Connecticut. We are a free nonprofit organization that provides social emotional support to anybody impacted by cancer. So it could be anyone from the caregiver to the patient themselves to a child.
[00:18:18] Jennifer Ricca: And then also in turn, we provide free social emotional support including support groups, individual counseling. Educational programming, healthy lifestyle programming, and various other programming and events to provide a community for those impacted by cancer. I myself am a child life specialist, and that is somebody who is trained to work with children and help them cope psychosocially during a medical crisis of any kind.
[00:18:44] Jennifer Ricca: So it could be anything from a tonsillectomy to brain cancer, anything in between. I am there to help the family better understand at an age appropriate manner, what exactly is happening with their child, and then in turn, also explain to that child what is going on with them, and give them an opportunity to normalize a very abnormal experience in their life and provide safe outlets, opportunities to express themselves, deal with cope, coping with stress, anxiety, anything else in between, and give them that space to be sharing what's going on in their lives as they're going through this journey.
[00:19:19] Amri Kibbler: Wonderful. Thank
[00:19:19] Elish McGrath: you. Elish. Can you introduce yourself? Sure. Hi, I'm Elish McGrath. I'm a registered nurse, but I'm the director of patient services at a nonprofit called Cancer Support Team. We see patients and their families that live in Westchester County and we provide free of charge nursing, which focuses on patient education and emotional support.
[00:19:46] Elish McGrath: We have social work counseling for patients and families that are struggling emotionally because all of the changes and upheavals that a cancer diagnosis springs. We have case managers. They help connect patients with any benefits and entitlements that they're eligible for. They'll apply for financial grants, get food deliveries for them, any of those concrete services that help the patients and their families.
[00:20:16] Elish McGrath: We run three support groups. We have a group of volunteers that help drive patients to their treatments, and we have a small financial grant for patients and families that are struggling financially.
[00:20:32] Amri Kibbler: Thank you. And both of these services are in the Westchester, New York area, right? Correct.
[00:20:38] Jennifer Ricca: The Cancer Support Community has actually branched out into lower Connecticut and all of New York State.
[00:20:45] Amri Kibbler: Great. And you're also part of a bigger affiliation that has programs throughout the country, right? Jennifer? Yes, correct. The Cancer Support Community is all throughout the country. Your own mom had cancer. Can you share what that was like for you? What the communication was like in your own experience going through cancer as a family?
[00:21:10] Elish McGrath: Absolutely. Amri. So when I was 10 years old, my mother, she hadn't been feeling well. She went to the doctor and I remember things happened pretty quickly. She was admitted to the hospital. She had surgery and this, this was back in the 1980s, I want to say she was probably admitted into the hospital at that time.
[00:21:34] Elish McGrath: Somewhere between a three to four week period. My father had to continue working. I'm an only child. I went to live with a friend of hers, and when my mother returned home from the hospital, I remember that first day we sat down and she asked me, what do you think? Is going on with me. And I remember saying to her, I think that you have cancer.
[00:22:05] Elish McGrath: And she told me that I was right. She had ovarian cancer, had surgery, had received her first chemotherapy treatment while in the hospital. And even though I was scared and frightened, it made me feel so much better that she clarified what I was thinking, and it was a very open dialogue. From that time on, I was always part of the conversation knowing what was going on with her in terms of her diagnosis, her treatment.
[00:22:40] Elish McGrath: I wasn't afraid to ask questions, and there was a lot of trust there. So even though I was upset that my mom had this diagnosis. I never felt afraid to ask questions if I needed to.
[00:22:58] Amri Kibbler: Thank you so much for sharing that, that it must have been such a difficult time for you just being 10 years old, and I'm sure so much thought went into that conversation that your mom had with you, and thinking about myself, having that conversation with my kids, I played it over and over again in my mind and I, I only really had my husband to bounce my ideas off of how to handle it.
[00:23:23] Amri Kibbler: Jennifer, I know you work with a lot of families. What would you advise a family when they're thinking about having this initial conversation about a cancer diagnosis?
[00:23:34] Jennifer Ricca: So I actually first want to applaud your mom Elish. I think she handled it beautifully. Obviously this is not a conversation Amri, you know, firsthand that this is not a conversation you ever wanna have with your child.
[00:23:46] Jennifer Ricca: So I truly empathize with the fact that this is not something easy to do and sit down and have that face-to-face conversation and put that out there with your child. But that being said, one of the biggest things that I would suggest is to be as honest as possible. I think sometimes people can, because of the nerves and because of not wanting to scare your child.
[00:24:10] Jennifer Ricca: People often sort of fluff wording and kind of try to avoid certain phrasing and, and terminology for fear of what that child might take. But to really be honest and use the word cancer, if you know what some of your treatment plan is going to be, um, use the word chemotherapy, use the word radiation.
[00:24:28] Jennifer Ricca: Those are not scary words to your child. The this is, for the most part, most children, this is the first time they will ever hear those words. So the weight that chemotherapy has on an adult hearing that versus the weight of a 7-year-old, a 5-year-old, a 13-year-old, even those terms are. Just kind of new.
[00:24:47] Jennifer Ricca: And so giving them that honest discussion about what is going to be happening to you and the steps that will be taken in order to help you with your cancer treatment is the better. The best way to start, the other thing I would suggest is to be mindful of the time that you're going to be sharing this information.
[00:25:06] Jennifer Ricca: I wouldn't do it right before bed. I wouldn't do it right before running out the door to go rush to get to a friend's birthday party or something. Be mindful of the time of day that you're going to do it if possible. And then also, if possible, sit down as a family and do that. Obviously, Elish. It was just you because you have no siblings, but.
[00:25:25] Jennifer Ricca: If there is a chance that there are siblings, you know, a family involved, sit down together because what you wanna be able to do and as much as a family, a parent may have the best intention of saying the same exact thing to each child. Having it at the same time make sure is giving the opportunity for the same language across the board to be put out there for their child and not being like, mom told me this and no, she told me that, but then dad told me that.
[00:25:48] Jennifer Ricca: Being able to have that same baseline of information to start is always very helpful.
[00:25:55] Amri Kibbler: I also really love how Elish's mom posted as a question, um, and really left that space for you to fill in like where you are and what's happening with you. I feel like that makes it feel very much like interactive.
[00:26:09] Jennifer Ricca: Yes.
[00:26:10] Jennifer Ricca: And that's also good because it gives. A chance for you to hear what you think your child is processing For Elish, she had a very fast experience where it kind of, things quickly happened where she's all of a sudden at her parents' friend's house and staying there, and all of a sudden she's trying to put pieces together.
[00:26:30] Jennifer Ricca: For some families they may be finding out, and at the moment it's still unfolding, so things aren't necessarily happening in the moment. So there is time to sit down and maybe just give the language versus saying, what do you think is happening with mommy? Or What do you think is happening with Daddy?
[00:26:45] Jennifer Ricca: Because they may not think anything is happening at the moment. So it is also kind of what is the precursor to that conversation and what's going on to then lead it into the opportunity of that question, or just the point blank explanation of what's happening.
[00:27:02] Amri Kibbler: You bring up an important point for some people.
[00:27:05] Amri Kibbler: You get the cancer diagnosis and there's quite a period of time before treatment starts, which is actually one of the scariest times. 'cause you're really just in this sort of frozen state of knowing you have cancer, you're full of fear and not knowing what to happen. Is there a timeframe if you have this window, that it's best to tell your kids or should you wait until you start treatment?
[00:27:29] Jennifer Ricca: So I think one of two things. If you know a little bit about what is to come, I would suggest start the conversation. Maybe it could be. Two weeks before your first treatment? I would say depending on the age though, that is also kind of something to be mindful of. If you have very young children, that's not something, first of all, their time span of is different for them.
[00:27:52] Jennifer Ricca: You know, if you tell your kids a 4-year-old, you're gonna Disney World in two weeks, they're gonna ask you every single day, are we gonna Disney World tomorrow? So to be mindful of that age is also a very important thing to be keeping in the forefront of your mind. If this conversation is gonna happen a week, two days.
[00:28:09] Jennifer Ricca: Or two weeks beforehand, a teenager can handle the news of this being told to them A few weeks prior, we found this out. Here's what's happening. As soon as we know more information, we will tell you the next steps of my treatment plan. For a 4-year-old, you don't need to get into all of that rather than there, it could be something as it gets closer to the day of for a seven to like 10, 12-year-old, you can maybe tell them a couple days before.
[00:28:35] Jennifer Ricca: So it's, it is also very age dependent on when that news should be shared.
[00:28:41] Amri Kibbler: And we know that these conversations, it's not a one and done. You know, you talk about having the diagnosis conversation, but it's really an ongoing communication pattern that we need to set up because treatment can go on for many months and unfortunately recurrences happen.
[00:28:59] Amri Kibbler: Can you talk to us a little bit about best practices for ongoing conversation with our kids, and then Elish, I'd also love to hear your perspective on this as well.
[00:29:08] Jennifer Ricca: Sure, sure. So I think one thing to just be mindful of when you have that initial conversation with your child or children, to know that they themselves, just like you have to process this.
[00:29:22] Jennifer Ricca: So do not be surprised if your child takes this news and says, okay, like, are we gonna go out for ice cream tonight? Or, okay, let's kind of move on. And the Yankee game is on tonight. Being able to share this news, but also give them that space and not make them feel as though they need to ask you immediate questions.
[00:29:39] Jennifer Ricca: I, myself, am somebody who takes a little time to process information, and then that question comes up later on. So one of the things I often recommend to families when they share the news with their child or their children. Is to leave a basket or a jar of some sort in a post-it note. It could be by their bedside.
[00:29:58] Jennifer Ricca: It could be in the main area of their living room or their family room or wherever. And it could be a space that they can start to write down questions in the moment that they start to think of it. And it could be a safe space for them to, they might be doing their homework and all of a sudden they're thinking, mom mentioned something about chemotherapy.
[00:30:15] Jennifer Ricca: What is chemotherapy? And then they can write that question down and then they can put it in the jar or the basket or whatever. And then it could be something that the parent could then pick up, look at these questions, have a chance to process the questions that their child is thinking of, and then have a chance to say, all right, let's sit down as a family.
[00:30:32] Jennifer Ricca: Here's some questions that have come up in the past two months, in the past six months, in the past two weeks even. And we're gonna kind of go through them as a family and talk about this. And that's something to also keep in mind at the end of that initial conversation. To leave that door open. As Elish kind of mentioned from that first moment she talked to her mom until, as things continued, she, it was a very open conversation and honest and I think that's something to really make sure you put out there with your fam with the child.
[00:31:01] Jennifer Ricca: This is not the last time we're gonna talk about this. I'm always here. Dad is always here. Aunt so and so is here, uncle. So whoever's is there are your people for this time. You can kind of say, are here for you to talk to you about what's going on and if you ever have a question that comes up, we are here for you.
[00:31:18] Jennifer Ricca: And then that's a nice time to introduce the Post-it note opportunity. I
[00:31:22] Amri Kibbler: love
[00:31:23] Jennifer Ricca: that
[00:31:23] Amri Kibbler: so much. Elish, do you have any thoughts?
[00:31:27] Elish McGrath: Yes. And Jennifer, I, I love that idea too with the post-it notes. I think it's really great. Listen, I always think honesty is the best policy. I think often our children are tuned in more so to what's going on than we give them credit for.
[00:31:46] Elish McGrath: Like in, in my own experience there I was, I was at my parents' friend's house. I, I was in great hands, I was being well taken care of, but still in, in the back of my mind, I knew something bigger was going on and I, and I came up with, I think my mom has cancer and I was right. So I think a cancer diagnosis, it doesn't affect that one person.
[00:32:13] Elish McGrath: It affects the entire family. So I think open, honest, ongoing conversations ba based on what's appropriate for your child. It is so important. And it's actually, I think it brings you closer together. It strengthens the relationship when you allow that.
[00:32:37] Amri Kibbler: Definitely. And I know that my kids were young when I was diagnosed and the difference between what they both understood, one being four and one being nine mm-hmm.
[00:32:47] Amri Kibbler: Was just like seismically different. Yeah. Night and day. Night and day. And even though we use the word cancer with my 4-year-old, she still didn't absorb that. Even though we had books about cancer a couple years ago, she looked at me and said, mommy, you had cancer? And we all like laughed because little kids process things in different ways and you know, to everyone else it was very obvious.
[00:33:11] Amri Kibbler: So I think that's really important to talk about the difference between age groups if we're talking about toddlers, middle schoolers, and teens, and how we can support them through this journey. Jennifer, do you have any advice that you can share on some of these different age groups?
[00:33:28] Jennifer Ricca: Sure. I think one of the big things for the little ones, um, like your 4-year-old for example, I'm not surprised that she still was like you could, you had every book you use the word, and that's the part where I feel like she didn't, you know, was those sort of the shock because you use the proper terms.
[00:33:46] Jennifer Ricca: So it was like so natural. It was almost like that's a ball, that's an apple. It became part of her language that she heard on a regular basis. So now that she's older and hearing the word cancer and now she has a different understanding of it, now all of a sudden is wait, what? This is all connecting now.
[00:34:01] Jennifer Ricca: So it really does impact the child, obviously based on their age. So one of the things that I often say with the younger ones is to be, when you're talking with them, the biggest things from like anywhere from three to. 10, 11, 12, and on even is to talk about the physical changes. I think that's something to be very mindful of.
[00:34:23] Jennifer Ricca: Kids are physical learners. They see the flower is blue, they see the sky is blue, they see whatever is happening. The school bus is yellow to see that maybe mom or dad may lose their hair. Mom or dad may not have the same energy level and they might have to be lying down more than they ever had to before having those points to highlight for them and let them know that mommy may lose her hair.
[00:34:47] Jennifer Ricca: Daddy is asleep, and you know, as a person progresses through their cancer journey, they start to figure out a little bit of a rhythm. You know, they have chemotherapy and they're usually tired the next day and then they bounce back after day three or something that, you know, they know their, their kind of body and how they react to the chemotherapy.
[00:35:04] Jennifer Ricca: So it could be something that you can. Start to bring that child into that process a little and have them be able to say, okay, like I know day three I have a little more energy. So maybe on day three, I know those are the days that I will do more like arts and crafts in the bed with my child. And then come day five is when I can take a walk with my child and be able to bring that into a, a normalization, for lack of a better word for their child to kind of understand a, a routine For older ones, one of the things that I often say is that they can understand the inner workings of your body.
[00:35:41] Jennifer Ricca: The teenager understands that there's different ways that your body is functioning and how maybe chemotherapy may impact that is a different story. And versus a five-year-old understanding that, so with a teenager, as much as they may understand, you also have to be mindful of what they actually want to know.
[00:36:00] Jennifer Ricca: So I always defer to say to that child, what is it you would like to know? That's gonna be happening. They may just be content, for lack of a better word, and obviously not content, but people say, you know, I just need to know you're having chemotherapy. I don't need to know anything else, and I know that you're gonna lose your hair and that's all they wanna know.
[00:36:18] Jennifer Ricca: So you really do need to take the the lead of your child because you don't wanna offer them more. You know, one of the things again that I love that Elish's mom did was to ask her, what do you think is happening? That's how you really bring them into this conversation and make them feel like they are part of this journey with you is to be able to share with them and say.
[00:36:38] Jennifer Ricca: What do you want? What is it that you need from me here? And I will take that and go with it. And so oftentimes that's what I will say to a child, like, why do you think you're here coming to see me? And they'll say, I don't know. And I'm like, well, what's happening with your mom? I don't know. And to be able to sort of see where they are to then take the next step into giving them more information in the same way too, with a teenager.
[00:37:00] Jennifer Ricca: What do you think happens with chemotherapy? I don't know. Would you like to know? No. Okay. Well then that's the end of your story. When you are ready, you can come to me or to dad or to so-and-so, and we can talk more about this. So it really is, as much as there are, quote, age appropriate language, it is also something to be mindful of what your child really does want to know in the time that you're asking them.
[00:37:25] Amri Kibbler: And I'm just thinking about teenagers and like what an emotional rollercoaster of a time it is without having a parent having cancer. Right? They're going through so much trying to establish their identities and with their friends. What other kind of support could we offer kids that are a little bit older, like pre-teens and teens?
[00:37:45] Amri Kibbler: Would you suggest support groups or other ways outside of just communicating with the parent?
[00:37:52] Jennifer Ricca: Sure. So I do think support groups are wonderful. I do think that there is something to be said for having your child not feel like they are the only one. You know, they're at camp right now, or they're at school in the fall and they're looking around the classroom and they're saying nobody understands what is gonna happen when I go home and my mom is sick after her chemotherapy, or she's lost her hair, or she doesn't, you know, whatever they're watching unfold.
[00:38:17] Jennifer Ricca: So to be able to have a group of other teams to connect with is clearly a great opportunity to take advantage of. And then also the other thing is they really might just lean on their peers. They might just lean on their good friends and say, I just wanna feel normal and I just need to be with some people.
[00:38:33] Jennifer Ricca: And you know, one of those things I would suggest is to maybe say to your teen, maybe you can pick one or two close friends to tell this news to if you want. You wanna tell the whole school, that's great. But it might help you to be able to just look at your best friend and say, here's what's happening, and take it from there.
[00:38:51] Jennifer Ricca: And when I need to kind of have you to lean on, I'm gonna hope, you know, can I look to you to lean on for that moment in time? But again, you know your child best. When I work with families, I am very mindful of not stepping on toes. While I may have strategies and ideas, I always say to the families. I may give you this idea and you're gonna tweak it because you know your child best and you know how they are going to respond to this activity or conversation.
[00:39:16] Jennifer Ricca: So that's why, again, you know your child best. If your child is somebody who gets closed off, if they get in trouble at school, then we have to figure out how to start to bridge a gap of making sure that child has an outlet to talk about things. But if your child's really social and can have an opportunity to say like, yeah, I've got like really one good best friend I could lean on and that's how I wanna do it.
[00:39:38] Jennifer Ricca: Or I have a close family friend or somebody, but give them another way to, or another outlet, another person that they can trust and lean on who they can call if they don't wanna kind of vent to their mom or dad about what's going on.
[00:39:52] Amri Kibbler: That is so important. Very good advice. I hear from a lot of parents that they are worried about saying the wrong thing to their kids.
[00:40:00] Amri Kibbler: What would you say to that? And for both of you?
[00:40:03] Jennifer Ricca: Yes. I think it goes back to what Elish said. Three minutes ago, which is honesty is the best policy. I think it's more worried about what you're not going to say. I think that's the part where you don't wanna hide things from your children. And because again, like Elish, she drew her own conclusion because of the way that her worlds unfolded when everything happened with her mom.
[00:40:24] Jennifer Ricca: Being honest with them will help them not look to outside sources for information, the intranet and other people who know somebody else who has cancer. And then I know that so and so had this cancer and my mom has the same one and that person died. So it means my mom will definitely die. Like those things are because kids talk understandably so they have access to their phone with the internet.
[00:40:46] Jennifer Ricca: Clearly they can start to go down a rabbit hole. So if you are upfront and honest from the start, they will always look to you for the facts versus looking to others to fill in those gaps. But if you start to kind of waver a little bit, that's when they're gonna start to look around. So I do also recommend that if you have a close knit community of either family, friends, or family themselves who are gonna be around your children for this period of time, to share with them the same language, so that way they know if they're gonna go with their Aunt Joan, aunt Joan's gonna say the same thing that their parents are saying, because you don't wanna have Aunt Joan say, I heard that.
[00:41:25] Jennifer Ricca: And then all of a sudden they're like, wait, the two people I trust the most are my parents, and now they're not telling me everything. Right? So you wanna make sure, you just give them honesty and don't worry, you're not gonna say the wrong thing because you, if you're being honest with them, it's always gonna be the right way of sharing with them what they need to know.
[00:41:42] Elish McGrath: Aless, did you wanna add anything? Yes, I, I agree with that, Jennifer. And there's no script for this, right? Every child is their own individual. So I think putting the, the lead in the child's hand, like starting with a question like, like my mother did, what do you think is happening with me? It just opens the door and listen.
[00:42:07] Elish McGrath: If you say something that maybe upsets your child, you apologize and you move on from that. None of us are perfect individuals, and it's important to teach our children that we're human beings and sometimes we make mistakes. But I think overall, when you're having an open, honest conversation with your child, letting them take the lead, I think it's really difficult to make a mistake at that point.
[00:42:37] Amri Kibbler: It's so true, just having those open lines of conversation and letting them know, okay, we're gonna continue the conversation. It's not just one conversation, it's ongoing. And like these are skills that can be helpful for any parent. Right? It's not just a cancer diagnosis. 'cause there's so many difficult conversations that come up as our kids grow and they can be in distress or having big emotions.
[00:43:02] Amri Kibbler: And it's when you have that trust that you've developed from the open conversations that then they feel comfortable coming to you, even if it's writing on the post-it note and putting in it in the jar, like having those tools set up can be a lifeline for them. But Jennifer, what are some common reactions that parents should look out for that their kids could be in distress?
[00:43:26] Jennifer Ricca: Sure. For the younger ones, I would say like. Four to six or so. I would say some of the things that are common reactions are things like some regression in some basic lifestyle skills. So toileting, eating, sleeping are very common because basically one of the biggest things that you'll hear me say often as well is that as an adult, and even with children in particular too, when things are out of control, they are going to grasp onto what they can control.
[00:43:56] Jennifer Ricca: So with a child, it's the toileting or it's the not eating, or it's the eating. And that's something that's very common is that you might see your child regress a little bit. They might be a little more clingy to you as well. They might wanna check in with you and be more. Mindful of what your whereabouts when you're not in their viewpoint.
[00:44:15] Jennifer Ricca: For example, some kids I know actually that I've worked with are nervous to almost go off to school or go off to camp. Having that again, that nervousness of what does that mean that my mom is gonna go have this treatment and I'm watching her hair start to fall out, or she's not as active as she used to be.
[00:44:31] Jennifer Ricca: So looking into that is something that is a common reaction for the grade school children. I say some common reactions are they might have some more nightmares, they might also have a little regression in some schooling. Their attention to detail or their attention to school might be a little bit different.
[00:44:49] Jennifer Ricca: They also might be more interested and or aware of. Their own like health as well. So they're gonna be checking in on is this gonna happen to me? And again, very common like questions that some especially younger kids are like, could I catch cancer? Is this something that I caused? There's still a very much a magical thinking with a 4-year-old to like an 8-year-old of did I cause this?
[00:45:12] Jennifer Ricca: Because they watch an episode of Bluey and in an episode of Bluey, something might happen because it's like an episode, something magical happens with a magical horse or something. And they start to think, I had that thought and this happened. And they, that's the part where they, they connect the dots. So that's why again, it goes back to having that open, honest conversation with your child to debunk those stories that they're making up in their heads.
[00:45:33] Jennifer Ricca: So I think that's something to be kind of mindful of and aware of that they are meeting those things to be reassured. You did not cause this. You didn't just because you got mad at mommy yesterday. 'cause I wouldn't let you have an ice cream cone. Does it mean that's why I now have cancer? 'cause you were in your head mad.
[00:45:50] Jennifer Ricca: You know, like one of the examples I also refer to talk to families about is that scene in home alone when Kevin wakes up and he's like, I made my family disappear. That is like a child in a nutshell of how they really do respond to their thoughts and their ideas and this magical thinking. That's some common things to be mindful of with the teenagers.
[00:46:11] Jennifer Ricca: Some common things to be seeing them do is they may actually, a couple things may happen. One is they may really lean more towards their own social peer, their peers. And they might be really finding themselves as much as they can to be out and about and not necessarily at home because coming home makes them feel not normal.
[00:46:31] Jennifer Ricca: You know, they're starting to not feel like their peers right now. This is the age where they really just wanna fit in and not stick out like a sore thumb. And something like a cancer diagnosis can have that make them feel that way. So they may really lean into that. They also may find that their shifting in their family role might happen.
[00:46:50] Jennifer Ricca: They may all of a sudden realize that you have a 16-year-old in their hands or a 17-year-old and they may now have to pick up their little sister at ballet because mom and dad are both at treatment for the day. And so there might be this shift that they have to figure out their family dynamic and what that role is.
[00:47:08] Amri Kibbler: Yes. I distinctly remember when my older who was 9, 10, 11, started picking up other things and she was like, yeah, I had to make mac and cheese for the little one. And there are a lot of different shifts that happen to Thank you for, for outlining. A lot of That's very helpful. I wanna talk about something that you touched on a little bit already, but I wanna talk about structure and routines and why those things are important and how we should think about them for our kids.
[00:47:38] Amri Kibbler: Sure.
[00:47:39] Jennifer Ricca: One of the things. Exactly as I said earlier about control and structure and everything, kids thrive on boundaries, structure, predictability, expectancy of their day. If you can, I strongly recommend trying to find a way to help maintain that expectation of their day if possible. Of course, things are gonna happen, and even on a good day with somebody who doesn't have a cancer diagnosis, routine is gonna get rocked for sure.
[00:48:08] Jennifer Ricca: But if you can keep that predictable day of like, I know I'm getting up, I'm going to camp, and then I get home and then I have, you know, a play date or whatever the kind of thing is that they know what's happening. That being said, one thing that could be also helpful for them is to, if you can map out the week for yourself, if you know that you have chemotherapy or radiation, it could be on a just a, an add look calendar that you could have.
[00:48:33] Jennifer Ricca: Or it could be Monday, Wednesday, Friday is moms at chemo, or whatever that schedule is so they can, the kids are visual learners, even teenagers, they don't remember everything. Having that on the refrigerator or in a main spot that they could see and then be able to say, okay, I know today mom has cancer.
[00:48:50] Jennifer Ricca: That means typically now after the past few times, I've seen her come home. She feels X when she comes home, and so I need to do whatever. But one thing I also kind of recommend to families is to help empower your child as well. Give them opportunities to have a say in their day if possible. So say, you know, that you won't be able to pick them up from camp.
[00:49:14] Jennifer Ricca: Or from school or something. Would you like dad to come get you or would you like Aunt Joan to come get you? Or whomever? Let them have a say. Those two options are viable options and you can make it. That's a total acceptable answer. So either way is a win, but it still lets your child feel like they are calling some shots where a lot of their life right now is either control, they're sad looking at their mom or their dad going through whichever's going on, but giving them that chance to say, yeah, I'm gonna like call this shot here.
[00:49:43] Jennifer Ricca: Helps them feel a little more empowered. Have a little autonomy. Have that chance to feel like they're part of the process of the day. Knowing like, this could also be helpful for mom. Mom has chemotherapy today. I can't pick you up. What could be a good option? This person pick you up or that person pick you up.
[00:49:56] Jennifer Ricca: It gives them that, like I'm included in this whole journey that mom is going through as well.
[00:50:01] Amri Kibbler: And what about if there's something that comes up unexpectedly? 'cause we know a treatment, you can't always control when you have to go in or what's happening. Is it good to have a designated backup person so there's someone that they expect that they know that's coming to them?
[00:50:16] Amri Kibbler: Or how would you suggest handling that? I mean, I think that's
[00:50:19] Jennifer Ricca: perfect. Having a designated person and, and having that conversation upfront, saying to them, again, if you have that opportunity or that option, I should say, for a choice to be put out there, if you know you've got two good neighbors who are great family friends, and your child likes both of them, you know, and be like, all right, so today there's a chance that we may be running late and maybe you don't know that, but if, if you lay the groundwork for them a little bit and be able to say, there today there's a chance we're gonna be running late because of, or just so you know.
[00:50:52] Jennifer Ricca: Sometimes things are gonna come up. You know, if you have a 9-year-old, you can say that child. Sometimes it just lets you know things are gonna come up and we're not gonna be able to kind of do the same routine. So if that's the case, would you like X or Y to be able to pick you up and go to their house after, until mom or I could come pick you up or whatever is the, you know, ending of the story will be.
[00:51:12] Jennifer Ricca: But giving that, finding the wiggle room that you can give them that choice, finding the opportunities to, to give them that empowerment is really going to, again, just help them feel involved in the process that you're going through. And then also just doesn't make them feel like, I have to go this way. I have to go here.
[00:51:30] Jennifer Ricca: I have to go here because of my mom and whatever. It gives them that sense of autonomy at the same time.
[00:51:37] Amri Kibbler: And Aish, do you wanna share anything from your experience on what it was like for you as far as routine or any unexpected things that came up?
[00:51:46] Elish McGrath: Yes. Like I said, my, my parents had a good friend and that's who I would normally stay with, and she was the go-to person.
[00:51:56] Elish McGrath: When something unexpected came up, I felt very comfortable with her and it was consistent, so it wasn't like I was being pulled in a million different directions, right. If my mom or dad were not available, then Ann, their friend was, and then as time went on, I trusted her. So I felt very comfortable. And we had an open dialogue too about my mom's illness and her treatments.
[00:52:23] Elish McGrath: So I always felt that I had the, the ability to, to talk to my parents, to talk to Anne. And that was a really good feeling to have during listen, a cancer diagnosis. It's a difficult time, it's scary time for everybody. We can't make that go away, but when you have the ability. To talk to your loved ones, ask questions and talk about your feelings.
[00:52:51] Elish McGrath: It's a good thing.
[00:52:53] Amri Kibbler: It is. And having another person on your team that's included in this kind of like circle of connection and trust is all about the more people that our kids can feel like they have to lean on, whether it's a neighbor or a friend, or aunts and uncles and grandparents, like that extended family really comes so much into play as being an even more important support system for our kids.
[00:53:17] Amri Kibbler: Like I, I definitely saw my kids because they need that connection and the love and they're, they're feeling so vulnerable and having more of that is like the antidote, I think, for those feelings. So I found that like any friends that could come over and give them more attention and love was always valuable.
[00:53:40] Elish McGrath: Yes.
[00:53:41] Amri Kibbler: What are some small but powerful ways that parents can include their kids in this journey without overwhelming them, but I think just to increase the connection factor.
[00:53:52] Jennifer Ricca: I think, like I said, the having a, a calendar of some sort that can be a visual cue of what's going on. Finding the opportunity to keep that ongoing conversation.
[00:54:04] Jennifer Ricca: You know, as Elish was saying, there is no script. I can give you some tidbits and some tips and tricks of ideas, but at the end of the day, this is not going to be an easy conversation period. There is no real way to like soften the blow of this conversation. It's all in the fact of keeping them in the loop and having them feel like they are included in the decisions that are being made for their day and kind of what is unfolding for yours.
[00:54:30] Jennifer Ricca: So again, finding ways to give them some choices of things. Literally whether it's gonna be, do you wanna have pizza tonight or do you wanna have McDonald's? And I'm saying, I know McDonald's is not a good option at all, but like, I'm just saying like giving them, just keeping them involved in just. Your world, letting them be present.
[00:54:51] Jennifer Ricca: You know, one idea that I've had with families is on days that the mom or the parent might not be feeling great. Now, back to my little jars, I have a little jar where you can put popsicle sticks and on the one end of the Popsicle stick, you can write down activities that you can do while you're in bed or while you're on the couch.
[00:55:11] Jennifer Ricca: And basically you stick them the words down on the bottom of the jar and then you can say your child go to the jar and pick out an activity. And they can go and it's like they run over, they can go and they can pick out an activity like, oh look, we're gonna make bracelets. And then they go get the beating activities and go sit on the bed with them.
[00:55:27] Jennifer Ricca: So I don't wanna say it's a sneaky way, but it's just a little way to keep you guys connected. And like they can sit right next to you on the bed and not feel like they can't go into the room with you if you're a little more tired. It gives, it takes away the sense of the scariness of like. Mom's a little more tired.
[00:55:41] Jennifer Ricca: Should I leave her alone? I don't know what to do. I'm, this is unchartered territory for me. But if you find a way to loop them in and give them that way to connect with you because the way that they always known how to connect with you is now put on pause. That's an option.
[00:55:56] Amri Kibbler: That's great. 'cause I find that a lot of the pressure in the moment when you're really tired is, okay, well what can we do?
[00:56:02] Amri Kibbler: I'm bored and having to come up with all those ideas. So I love the idea of pre-planning a bunch of things that you feel comfortable doing when you're tired or not at your best, and like having that already ready to go. I think that's an excellent suggestion. And so this is gonna be my last question before we talk about resources.
[00:56:24] Amri Kibbler: If there's one message you want parents listening to take away, what would it be?
[00:56:28] Elish McGrath: I've said it already. Honesty is the best policy when you're open and honest. It just, it creates more healing environment for everybody.
[00:56:41] Jennifer Ricca: I second that too. And I would just add giving them opportunities to feel some control, some way that they can have a little bit of a say.
[00:56:51] Jennifer Ricca: Give them an opportunity to just feel a little more empowered in a time that is just really out of their control and yours.
[00:57:03] Amri Kibbler: Thank you. Okay. Aless, do you wanna share a little more about the resources that your organization is able to provide?
[00:57:12] Elish McGrath: Absolutely. It's a very unique organization. As nurses, we go out to the home, we sit with patients and their families, and we really make sure they understand what their diagnosis means, what the treatments they're receiving, how they work, what the common side effects are, how to manage those side effects.
[00:57:36] Elish McGrath: And then. We stay with them throughout the course of their entire treatment. So it's a knowledgeable source of support for patients and families. Our social worker, same thing. She's able to go out to the home, or sometimes patients and families prefer to come here to the office. She sits with them. She also incorporates a lot of different breathing techniques and meditation into her counseling, which we've seen patients really respond to in such a positive way.
[00:58:13] Elish McGrath: Our case managers, they're always, they're always thinking outside the box of ways to help families, and they're getting them connected with really important services that they need, like Social Security Disability or maybe somebody's eligible for food stamps and Medicaid. So they're actually doing those applications and then they're actually bringing it to Social Security or to Department of Social Services because when we have our patients that are going through treatment, they're immunocompromised.
[00:58:45] Elish McGrath: We don't want them having to wait on a line for a half hour in a crowded environment to drop off documents. So that's something that we can handle. For them. So it's just, it's a wonderful organization. Our, uh, joke here is we do everything for our patients except send them a bill. So we're just trying to, um, help people through this journey.
[00:59:11] Elish McGrath: It's, it's difficult journey with a lot of bumps in the road. So if we can be there to ease the way for them, that then that's a job well done. And Elish, where can we access and find Cancer Support Team? Sure. Our website is CancerSupportTeam.org. Our phone number is (914) 777-2777. And we have a, a very simple intake process.
[00:59:39] Elish McGrath: It can be done through our website or you could pick up the phone and call us. And also, I get a lot of phone calls from people outside of our service area. And I make it a point to never say, sorry, we can't help you. I'll get on the computer and I'll research and I'll try and find things in your area for you.
[00:59:59] Amri Kibbler: Thank you so much for everything that you're doing for all these resources. It just so incredible. It can be so daunting when you get all of these forms and things that you need to fill out and you're just so tired and exhausted and your brain is not working at all. So I can't tell you how much that is needed.
[01:00:16] Amri Kibbler: So thank you. Oh, thank you.
[01:00:18] Elish McGrath: A Marie.
[01:00:19] Amri Kibbler: Jennifer, can you talk to us a little bit more about Cancer Support Community and the services that are um, provided? Sure. Absolutely. Like
[01:00:27] Jennifer Ricca: Elish, we are a free organization. We provide pre social emotional support to anyone impacted by cancer. We actually work closely with Cancer Support Team and we refer each other to each other often, which is nice.
[01:00:41] Jennifer Ricca: But we are located in White Plains and we offer everything from. Group counseling to individual counseling, that those can both be done virtually. As our organization has expanded into lower Connecticut and all of New York, we realize that families are not going to drive to White Plains for a session from Long Island or from Greenwich, Connecticut.
[01:01:04] Jennifer Ricca: Some an opportunity that people can take advantage of being on a virtual session. We do have in-person programming as well, everything from healthy lifestyle programming to activities such as beating and light Zumba or chair yoga, and just opportunities to bring a community together. And similar to how I was talking about the teenagers looking to be with their peers.
[01:01:25] Jennifer Ricca: It is just a nice opportunity for those who are impacted by cancer to just kind of sit in a room and do some beating. We have a book club. We have different opportunities that people can just be together and they don't have to talk about cancer, but they are there to just be together. And we are our organization, the phone number is (914) 644-8844.
[01:01:48] Jennifer Ricca: We have a Spanish speaking social worker. We have another social worker as also on staff, and then I am the children, teens and family manager. So I work with the children. I'm the go-to person for working with the kids. And our website is Cancer Support Community.org.
[01:02:05] Amri Kibbler: Amazing. Thank you so much. And I just know what an important resource that is, being able to have that connection and knowing that you have somewhere to go and someone to talk to at all times.
[01:02:16] Amri Kibbler: So thank you Jennifer as well. Thank you. Cancer Support Team and Cancer Support Community for being here and for sharing everything that you do and answering our questions today. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Yes, thank you. Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of The Space Between. If this show brought you comfort or a sense of community, I'd love for you to subscribe and share it with anyone who might need it too.
[01:02:41] Amri Kibbler: You can join the conversation on Instagram at @thespacebetween_cancer.family and head to amrikibbler.com for more resources designed to support parents navigating cancer. Just remember, you're never alone. This podcast is here as a companion on your journey towards healing, growth, and connection.