Charlotte

I love my blog. I enjoy so much sitting down and writing down my thoughts. I like thinking about it when I'm going somewhere and writing my next post in my mind. It makes me think about what I'll write next, something new and interesting and important to me and others too.

Today's post is dedicated to Charlotte, my little cousin and goddaughter. She's a wonderful smart thing whose young life has already proven tough. This week two years ago she underwent surgery to remove a brain tumour in a rather advanced stage. The shock was great and the pain too. She has since been cut open a few times and has gone through many therapies; you name them. At the age of seven she is now fine, or as fine as you can get.

What I personaly struggled most with is that she has lost the innocence children have at that age, due to the serious side effects of brain surgery, the strong therapies on a young body and last but not least the psychological side effects. The last can be summarized in the child's thought "Why is everybody so sad? What have I done wrong...?" leading to obvious feelings of guilt.

Her parents and family have been most incredible in dealing with it managing very well the difficult task of remaining optimistic and speaking openly about it. On my side the distance didn't help. Even now I find it difficult to talk about her illness. I have come to realise that people very often are embarrassed to talk about cancer because they don't know how to deal with it. This has been confirmed to me by other people, both cancer patients and their family and friends.

I have witnessed that speaking openly about such topics has enormous beneficial effects. And if you want to donate some money to charity, the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London may be a good start. Or the Förderkreis für tumor- und leukämiekranke Kinder in Ulm if you live in continental Europe.