Interview Section : YouthHealthtalk

Interview 28

Age at Interview: 16

Sex: Male

Age at Diagnosis: 13

Background: Lives with Mum; he is finishing his treatment in a couple of months and is back in school full time; white British. He did a lot of drawing while on treatment to express the way he was feeling.

Brief outline:Diagnosed on February 2002 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Treatment protocol: one year of intensive chemotherapy followed by two years of maintenance. He had a Hickman line. Finished treatment in May 2005.

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Has become much closer to his Mum but his Dad (who does not live with them and has given up smoking because of the cancer) does not seem to understand what he's going through.
Print Well it's brought, it's brought my, me and my Mum much closer. We've become much closer than we were. I mean we were very close anyway so now we're really close. And it's, it's been very difficult for both of us so we've kind of shared things to make it easier on the other. But it's very difficult on parents, it very, it affects them a lot. And it's very difficult for anyone let alone [hump] a parent because they, you know, you're, it's their child and they're very worried and you know you don't want to lose them and things like that. So it, it's been very difficult for my Mum. But my Dad stopped smoking because, because of it. He was scared and that it would affect me and affect him so he stopped that. And, but he, he doesn't understand because he doesn't live with me so he doesn't understand several things. So when I'm on dexamethazone if I go up there and I am, I'm depressed and angry and stuff he tells me off because I'm being unfair to the people up there. And that annoys me because he doesn't understand what I'm going through so he doesn't realise that, you know, I'm not doing it because I want to. I am doing it because I just do it, you can't help it. But he, he doesn't understand. He's in the mindset that if you don't understand something you don't worry about it and he doesn't want to worry about it so he doesn't understand it.

full list of topics

Discovery :

Hospitals, doctors and treatments :

Side-effects, feelings and coping strategies :

Self-image and fertility :

Living with it :

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