‘Childhood cancer affects the whole family. Our Gold Ribbon Conversations podcasts explore all aspects of that’

They came to me out of the work I do as host of the Everymum podcast for everymum.ie. It has had almost 500,000 downloads since 2019, and I’ve had to cover a lot of the challenging experiences of parenthood such as miscarriage, baby loss and other issues.

First, they only wanted one episode, but I pointed out that one podcast couldn’t do really anything for the issue and we needed to build a series. I went back to them with a proposal of five episodes. So, last year, we did five episodes. We had one covering an adult survivor who had cancer as a child; a family who had lost a child; a family who had come through cancer and whose child is in remission.

We had an oncologist episode and we also had one episode with a play therapist who talked about how we allow a child with cancer to stay a child; how to still give them a childhood.

That came out last September and it went incredibly well so Childhood Cancer Ireland came back to me this year and said they had a grant to do another season and they wanted to do 12 new episodes. We made them over the summer and they’ve gone out this month, which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. We’ll also have some more episodes before the end of the year.

We want to expand the opportunity for many different people to talk about their experiences of childhood cancer. People have such unique experiences, and then there are also so many experts and areas of expertise to cover. For example, one episode is with the principal of the school within Crumlin Hospital, caring for the education of children in long-term care.

It was such an incredible conversation about how important it is to keep the connection between the child and their education, how that sets down a marker for that child where they have a future they can think about.

In another, we speak to a child diagnosed with leukaemia when he was 11 and he’s still battling it now, at 15. We did the podcast with him and his mother together. He was giving his perspective on the mental challenges he has had to experience over those very formative years. He talks about how he wants to feel like he’s part of his lad group, not just a kid with cancer. He was in remission but now it’s back. It’s very challenging for a child to process that level of disappointment and to dive so deep to find the courage to believe he can do it again while trying to be a normal teenager, too.

One episode was about how, when a child is technically in remission or cancer-free, then this can be the point of emotional breakdown for a parent. They explained that when your child is diagnosed you’re swooped up into the system, you’re put on this schedule of treatment and it’s hard but you’re part of this rhythm. Then, if you’re lucky, you’re told it’s all gone and it’s great news — but suddenly you go back into the world and the parents can suddenly feel very alone. That’s when a lot of the trauma and insecurity comes up for parents.

Parents have also talked on the podcast about the effect on siblings — trying to shield them from the fear, trying to still give them fun, trying not to feel guilty about being away from them for long periods with the child who has cancer.

We also talk about the practicalities and the impact childhood cancer has on careers. Sometimes people have to step out of work for up to two years, and bills still come in. We can’t ignore that.

The purpose of the podcast is to raise the issue of childhood cancer, but also the effect on the whole family. Childhood Cancer Ireland is a charity founded by parents — parents who have experienced all of this. That makes all the difference.

Gold Ribbon Conversations is available wherever you get your podcasts. To donate to Childhood Cancer Ireland, whose mission is to achieve health justice for children diagnosed with cancer in Ireland, text GOLD to 50300. For more information, see childhoodcancer.ie

In conversation with Sarah Caden