The support doesn’t stop when treatment stops. Our C.U.R.E. Bereavement Support Group is available to parents and family members who have lost a child to cancer. We also offer assistance in other ways including financial help for funerals and ceremonies celebrating the lives of loved ones lost.
Parent Advocate Program
The heart of C.U.R.E. Childhood Cancer Association is its Parent Advocate program. Certainly, C.U.R.E.’s outreach efforts, fundraising activities, research initiatives, and educational liaison efforts are all crucial to the organization’s mission of helping pediatric cancer and blood disorder patients. It’s the Parent Advocates, however, who are in the trenches, providing support of every stripe to family members as they voyage through treatment and beyond.
First established in the mid-1980s, the Parent Advocate program is ever-evolving to address the needs of patients and parents.
In addition to our Parent Advocates, C.U.R.E. also has a Bereaved Family Advocate. The Bereaved Family Advocate has lost a child to cancer and is able to provide support to family members as they navigate their own loss. Programming and support is coordinated through the Bereaved Family Advocate to address the gap that exists when a family loses a child to cancer.
If you have a suggestion for an activity or service that you’d like to see offered by the Parent Advocate or the Bereaved Family Advocate program, let us know! Please send suggestions to staff@curekidscancer.com or speak to an Advocate or other volunteer.
Other Ways We Help
Funeral Assistance: Upon the referral of the social worker in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Department at Golisano Children’s Hospital, C.U.R.E. offers a grant to each family who loses a child to cancer or chronic blood disorder. At C.U.R.E., we understand that families may financially struggle to pay for after life services and we want to ensure we do what we can to help these families.
Bereavement Support Group: A support group for parents and family members who have lost a child to cancer is led by our Bereaved Family Advocate. This is a place where parents may talk openly about the loss of their child and receive peer to peer support. All support group meeting times and places will be posted on the C.U.R.E.’s calendar. In addition, C.U.R.E. maintains a private Facebook group for our bereaved families. To join this group or for more information about the bereavement support group please email us at staff@curekidscancer.com.
Bereavement Meetings are typically held at C.U.R.E. from 7-8:30 pm on the 1st Wednesday of each month.
Reservations are not necessary. Extended family and friends are welcome.
C.U.R.E. Resource Library furnished by the John F. Wegman Fund
C.U.R.E. is home to many books and resources that are free for our families to use. We have books available for families to take home and read, some to keep and some to borrow. Every family who experiences a loss is sent “Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss” by Pat Schwiebert, and if there are young surviving siblings, “Things To Do While Missing You” by Portia Ingram.
The Julie Roberts Children Memorial Garden at C.U.R.E.
Established in 2003 at the C.U.R.E. office, the garden is a memorial to the children who died of cancer or blood disorders. Bricks inscribed with the names of children who are never forgotten line the walkway. These bricks are provided by C.U.R.E. to our families who have lost a child.
Brick Laying Ceremony
Every Spring, parents, family and friends are invited to a special ceremony to remember and celebrate the precious lives of children lost during the calendar year as we place their memorial bricks in the Julie Roberts Memorial Garden.
The Conrow Family
The Conrow Family lost their daughter and sister in 2015. C.U.R.E. was there to provide guidance, companionship, and support.
“JUST SHARING OUR STORIES, LETTING THEM KNOW THEY ARE NOT ALONE. AND NONE OF THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT C.U.R.E.”
Resources
How to Create a Peaceful At-Home Hospice for Your Loved One - From structural modifications to allow for special equipment to finding ways for your loved one to maintain independence, this guide will help you create a suitable place to spend life’s final, precious moments, and to pass away peacefully.