Portfolio

Back to School, Back to Life

The transition back to school is a significant milestone for children recovering from cancer. It marks a return to normalcy: seeing friends, learning in class, and reclaiming a routine outside the hospital.

At the Sassy Carmen Foundation, we believe in empowering families through every stage of the childhood cancer journey. School reintegration is one of the many critical moments that deserves care, planning, and support.

Read Full Article Here 

Finding Joy When Everything Feels Heavy with Small Wins
When your child is diagnosed with cancer, joy can feel out of reach. The happy milestones you once looked forward to, like first steps, birthdays, or school achievements, are replaced with medical appointments, test results, and the unknown. In all the stress and worry, it is easy to focus only on the big things, like treatment plans or lab results. But sometimes, the most powerful moments are the small ones. A laugh. A nap. A day without pain.

These little moments, called “small wins,” bring strength and hope to families. They may not seem important to others, but to parents and children facing cancer, they are a big deal. Research shows that noticing and celebrating small wins can boost emo

Love, in its purest form, should be safe, steady and unconditional. It should lift us up, not break us down. But for many in the LGBTQ community, love comes at a cost. It is a price paid in fear and rejection. Sometimes, it means losing everything we believe is ours.

Fear is woven into our daily lives, no matter how much the world progresses towards equality. Fear lingers in the way people look at us, in the shift of conversations when we walk into a room and in the whispers they think we cannot hear. I still remember the first time someone screamed at me from across the street: “Dyke!” Someone meant that word to wound and strip me of my humanity. In that moment, I was not a person. I was a target. More than a decade has passed, but that memory has never left me. It

Medical PTSD in Parents: Recognizing and Healing the Trauma of Your Child’s Diagnosis

A child’s cancer diagnosis throws parents into a world of fear, uncertainty, and relentless stress. The emotional toll can be overwhelming, often leading to Medical Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Studies show that between 40% and 83% of parents experience PTSD symptoms in the first month after diagnosis. While these symptoms may lessen over time, they often remain significant. Recognizing these effects is crucial to validate the intense stress parents endure and ensure they receive the support they need to effectively care for their child. This article explores how parents can identify signs of Medical PTSD, understand their experiences, and take steps toward healing.

Editor’s Note: This blog was written especially for the Humanity Project by Tracy Ikola, a freelance writer on health issues.

For 13 years, I have dedicated my life to trauma and emergency nursing, witnessing incredible resilience and heartbreaking loss. In the ER, humanity reveals its rawest forms: pain, fear, hope, and sometimes tragedy. Some moments leave a lasting imprint, shaping how we see the world and our responsibility to one another.

One evening, a 12-year-old girl was rushed into our resuscitation bay. She had been found unresponsive in her bedroom, having used her Hello Kitty blanket to hang herself from her closet rack. For 45 agonizing minutes, we fought to bring her back. Despite our efforts, Jess* was gone.

I will never forget the silence af

Passion. Intellect. Fortitude. These are some of the qualities that define the women who have challenged limitations and left an indelible mark in history. Women’s History Month allows us to honor these trailblazers and visionaries. Among them is Dr. Jane Cooke Wright, often revered as the “Mother of Chemotherapy.” A leading pioneer in medical research, Dr. Wright is celebrated for her radical contributions to oncology. Confronting the challenges of racial and gender barriers, she transformed the field with unwavering conviction and inspired generations of scientists, leaders, and change-makers to come.  

Read Full Article