Neighbor News
For the Record: Terminally Ill Children Talk
Composer helps terminally ill children tell their stories
Terminal Illness Talks
Terminal illness is a tough diagnosis for anyone but when it’s ascribed to youngsters who have really only begun to live their lives, it’s especially heartbreaking.
Statistics show that more than 40 children a day are diagnosed with life-threatening conditions, like cancer and auto-immune diseases. With the numbers stacked this way, we all get anxious about finding cures. As quickly as possible. So research centers and non-profits devoted to children’s illnesses work hard to secure necessary funding.
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Unfortunately, more than ten percent of terminally ill children will not be here when the cures are discovered.
What can one say or do to help these kids? Is there a way to ease the burden and grief they may experience? And, what about the support their families will need?
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These are BIG, hard questions with a range of answers, from “I don’t know” to “Let’s talk about it.”
And the latter is exactly what one caring composer has taken on.
TALK Foundation Listens
Megan Cavallari who has written many Hollywood film scores and songs created the TALK Foundation to provide a way for children and teens undergoing treatment for chronic illness to share what they are thinking and feeling.
With a have-recording-studio-will-travel setup, she meets with these young people and lets them tell her how they are doing, feeling, and thinking. And they are free to offer up whatever information they want to share and, if desired, they can have a CD of their session as soon as the session is over.
Cavallari – the parent of a child diagnosed with juvenile arthritis – helps them talk about what’s happening in their lives. Its proof that others care about what they have to say and it’s a way to also give families and even medical support personnel important information they may not otherwise get.
What a gift!
To learn more, click here.
J. Dietrich Stroeh is author of Three Months: A Caregiving Journey from Heartbreak to Healing (FolkHeart Press) and two free e-books. For more information, click here.
