I was 40 when I was diagnosed with a brain tumour. My youngest son was 6 and my two stepsons teenagers. My biggest worry as I was walking out of the hospital was about telling my family. ‘What do I tell them?’ Hit me like a sickening punch in the stomach. This was closely followed by the questions of Should I tell them? Then, how on Earth do I begin to tell them? I spent almost an hour sitting in the hospital carpark trying to decide how to act when I got home and whether to say anything. There is so little support out there for talking to young children. I think it may be because no one ever wants to really think about having to do that, but when you are faced with that decision, it’s huge.
Added to that is the complication that kids are far more switched on to our emotions than we often give them credit for, or may hear snippets of hushed conversations. They can often sense when something is wrong or when we are hiding something. I know I am terrible at hiding things so was worried sensing I was hiding something would make things worse. For these reasons, I decided I was going to have to tell my boys something, but I didn’t tell them straight away. I've since written short book called Mummy has a lump, so that if mums want to explain to their children, there is a book they can use to help.