06/13/2025
A parent spoke this to me and with their permission I am posting because I think this is absolutely true.
"When a child gets cancer, the whole community surrounds that child and that family with care and with help. When a child has a serious mental illness, there is nothing. It can be devastating for that child and for that family to have to navigate a system that is inadequate. When you go to the emergency room and the doctor turns to you and says, "What exactly do you want me to do?" when they were your last resort.
When a child has cancer, no one would dare look at their parents and wonder what they did or didn't do right to cause what is happening with the child. When a child is significantly ill because of their brain, there is a completely different way of being seen and being supported. It is the loneliest experience."
