Today we speak with Jasmine Miller, a Child Life Specialist at the UF Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, Florida. Jasmine gives parents her strategies on working with kids to face the really big scary feelings that come with a cancer diagnosis, and she shares some vulnerable truths of what children confess to her about their treatment when their parents aren’t in the room. Jasmine has her bachelor's degree in music therapy and has a masters degree in child development. She has been working with children with chronic illness in the hospice world since she was 18 yrs old, and she is the ..read more

When I first met Julie, I felt this deep enduring strength inside of her. The kind of an embattled solider who had seen war many, many times. I knew she was the perfect person to talk about the roller coaster of this disease, how totally unpredictable and out of control it can be, and how difficult (I actually think we use the word impossible in our conversation) it is to ride it. How do you get comfortable knowing your world could be thrown upside-down in an instant? How do you do life, how do you function, how do you buy your child shoes for the next season when you’re not even sure they’ll ..read more

Kevin’s son Asher was diagnosed at 3 months old with LCH when it was still a very rare cancer diagnosis with minimal research and a trial and error treatment plan. Kevin’s wife Katy became the “medical” parent while he was the parent who kept life running. Kevin speaks candidly about their division of roles and how they kept an open and consistent line of communication with each other throughout Asher’s treatment as a way to stay connected and make sure the other was feeling supported and cared for. Kevin shares his eternally optimistic attitude about Asher’s diagnosis, and how committed he a ..read more

My husband and I are VERY different, like we're about as opposite as it gets, but somehow we’ve found a way to intersect where it matters the most to us. We have our outside life where people at parties would think we're strangers, and our inside life where our roots grow so far and widespread you will never find where they end.  When our daughter was diagnosed, our differences for some reason worked in our favour. He became our pillar of strength and I became our pillar of action. While he was holding her hand, I was holding our life. Both equally important.  Our conversation ..read more

In today's episode Sam talks with her cancer therapist, social worker Laura Pasqualino about the tools and strategies Laura helped Sam apply during her daughter's treatment. Laura believes we already know the way through the darkness, we've just never had to access the resiliency and inner-guides until now. She gives examples of how she helps parents find their way, and how she teaches us to visit the pain, not live in it. Laura holds a Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Toronto and has over 25 years experience in both hospital and community settings. She is a pro ..read more

Host Sam Taylor chats with Dawn who’s son Ollie was 7 when she noticed a tiny bump on his neck that wasn’t going away. After months of trying to get answers, with multiple doctors suggesting it was cat scratch disease or tuberculosis, they finally got a biopsy that concluded it was ALCL. Treatment began, Ollie relapsed, and with the cancer cells now in his central nervous system they attached themselves to his optic nerves. After waking up from a lumbar puncture, Ollie was groggy and asking to have the lights turned on. Sitting under the bright fluorescent beams of the recovery room, Dawn assu ..read more

Host Sam Taylor talks to Cara whose daughter was two years old when she was diagnosed with Leukemia. Due to adrenal complications during treatment, Cara's daughter arrested and was placed on life support for 47 days in the ICU. Cara talks about coping through this dark and scary time, what helped to pull her through, and how once her daughter was done treatment, she felt like she'd lost her identity. Sam and Cara talk about therapy, how to best support a friend during treatment, the "bad words" that make them cringe and how they've found ways to live with the ever present knowing that cancer c ..read more

Host Sam Taylor talks to her best friend musician Sarah Blackwood from Walk Off the Earth on all the ways friends and community can support a family through their child's cancer treatment. Sarah shares the ways they built an army of support, how they delegated tasks, and how they knew to ride the waves of treatment by sitting in the pain and fear of cancer and never trying to make it better. Sarah talks about her coping strategies through grief and trauma after her own personal loss, and how she found ways to stay active and helpful as a way to process her pain. Sarah and Sam give fa ..read more

In recognition of International Childhood Cancer Day, join host Sam Taylor on The Deep C as she sits down with Sickboy to share how parents and caregivers learn to cope with their child's cancer diagnosis. Sam talks about how disorienting and lonely it is when a child is diagnosed, and how it feels like being tossed into the depths of the ocean. Sam shares how the only way to survive and to carry your child through treatment is to learn how to breathe underwater, to learn how to become a fish. In this episode, Sam and Sickboy delve into the power of community, sharing personal stories and ins ..read more

In this episode of The Deep C, host Sam Taylor speaks with Carolyn, mom to four beautiful babies. When Carolyn's second baby Malcolm was 5 months old he was diagnosed with leukemia. In an instant, Carolyn and her partner were airlifted to CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario) and admitted, during covid, while she was pregnant with their third child. For almost 6 months, Carolyn lived at CHEO with Malcolm while he received treatment. The hospital became Carolyn's home, and the nurses and doctors her family. When Malcolm's treatment was complete and Carolyn and her p ..read more