Cancer charity offers parents grants and advice

A charity set up by parents of children with cancer is offering grants and financial advice to families facing these same devastating challenges.

Laura Cullinan’s daughter was just 21 months old the first time she got cancer.

Ms Cullinan, the chief executive of Childhood Cancer Ireland, said: “My own daughter was diagnosed with cancer and then she relapsed a year after her treatment with cancer for a second time.

“A lot of it for us was trying to find your way, trying to find supports and services when the rugs are pulled out from under you overnight with no warning.

“I suppose that’s what has driven us as a charity to help other families to have that strength and support every step of the way,” she said.

Her daughter is now doing well and back at school but the little girl and the family are still coping with the aftermath of her diagnosis. Ms Cullinan said: 

We know, having walked in those shoes, that when the treatment finishes and the hair grows back is not actually when cancer finishes. 

She described her daughter as “a brave little girl” and called for more recognition of the wider cancer costs.

Ms Cullinan stopped work to care for her daughter while her husband continued working.

“Overnight, the rug is pulled out from under you,” Ms Cullinan said.

You’ve one salary coming in. And then you’ve all these additional costs that come with cancer. 

In Ireland, an average of 375 children, teenagers, and young adults aged up to 24 are diagnosed with cancer each year.

A new bereavement grant will provide financial assistance to families who have lost a child to cancer. Parents can apply to the charity for this. A relapse grant will support families whose child’s cancer has returned. Parents can discuss this with medical social workers in hospitals, who will arrange this with the charity for them.

The charity also offers appointments with professionals at financial services firm LIA who share advice on navigating changes to a family’s financial situation.

“Parents can struggle with a range of things,” she said.

Extra travel and accommodation costs 

Children’s cancer services are centred on Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Crumlin in Dublin. This means that many families face extra travel and accommodation costs.

“If you’re a child living in Kerry you’re coming to Crumlin for your treatment,” she said. “You might be able to get a certain level of support in your regional hospital but the main bulk of your treatment is actually being done in CHI.”

Parking in hospitals, despite being subsidised, is still “a real hidden cost”, she added.  

Childcare costs can also spiral if people have other children, as the Cullinans did, she added.

“Or — if you’re in the community and there’s a waiting list for community services, and you need to get your child seen — then you end up paying privately for it,” she said.

“That’s an additional cost to families. 

"That’s the reality and there’s lots of families struggling with all of that. It is exceptionally difficult.” 

Childhood Cancer Ireland does not receive government funding, and is supported by donations.