"Julia's superpowers” is the children's audiobook launched by the Portuguese League Against Cancer (LPCC) to mark World Cancer Day, which is marked today.
The project, which has the support of MSD Portugal, aims to help adults explain to children what cancer is, what its impact on the family's daily life is and how the little ones can help make a difference. The project presentation session will take place this Thursday, February 4th, at 18 pm, on the LPCC Facebook page.
In Portugal, around 60 new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year, a reality that affects thousands of families and whose emotional impact generates different reactions throughout the treatment process, which sometimes leads to imbalances in family dynamics.
“This book is an essential tool to minimize one of the main difficulties experienced by families with cancer, which involves the issue of communication. Through it, the family can easily introduce the topic “cancer” and explain in a simple and appropriate way what cancer is and its implications. It may also be a useful resource in the performance of health professionals in oncology, as well as an important health literacy tool, at the service of schools and all teachers”, says Sónia Silva, responsible for the Psycho-Oncology area at LPCC of the Regional Center of the Center.
The resources and information available to help adults emotionally prepare a child for the situation of cancer in a close family member are scarce.
The decision to tell or not tell the child the reality of the disease, how to explain what cancer is, how to prepare the child to deal with the patient's physical, emotional and behavioral changes, particularly in the small daily tasks, are challenges for those living with a cancer diagnosis.
“Julia's Superpowers” is a children's audiobook, which shares the story of a happy, courageous and full of life girl and a struggling father, who face cancer with love. The character Júlia will discover that her father has a disease called cancer – she will get more tired, she will have to go to the hospital for treatments and her hair will eventually fall out.
With her mother's help, Julia will also learn that the disease is not contagious, that she can continue to play and help her father feel better with his super powers.
The project presentation session will take place tomorrow, February 04th, at 18 pm on the LPCC Facebook page. The speakers at the session will be Cândida Cancelinha, pediatrician, coordinator of the Pediatric Intra-Hospital Support Team in Palliative Care of the University and Hospital Center of Coimbra, Sónia Silva, responsible clinical psychologist at the Psycho-Oncology Unit of the LPCC – NRC and will feature the mediation by journalist Claúdia Pinto.
The audiobook is available on the LPCC website. Discover this story that teaches us that when a family member has cancer, it is legitimate to be afraid, but we cannot stay inside the tent like Julia. Cancer is worth fighting for.
Learn more at: https://www.ligacontracancro.pt/ospoderesdajulia/
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