Canopy Cancer Care’s orientation videos on Canopy TV are specifically designed as a resource for patients and their families to refer back to at any time during their treatment, and this month they talk about the challenges of caregiving and supporting.
Caring for a loved one with cancer is an important job; it’s a fundamental role, but it also has its challenges. This month Mark Stenton shares his personal journey about supporting his sister, Trish through her cancer. Kelly Banks also talks about her experience as a caregiver, and the ways in which her organisation’s support crew can help ease the burden.
Kelly continues, “Being a support person for a person going through the cancer journey is really difficult, because it’s something you get thrown into immediately, and often it is something you are not prepared for. But also you’re going through at the time something that is very overwhelming, stressful and quite traumatic, and I think that what really changes when you’re a caregiver is that your relationship changes. Like you say, you were the partner of a person, and now you’re their caregiver, and that has its ebbs and flows”.
For Mark, the biggest stress was watching her once she started her chemo, because Trish has always been a bit of a lioness figure to myself and my brother, so to watch someone so strong going through chemo, watch the physical changes was difficult and watching her slowly weaken. Mark says, “A lot of things go through your head, and I guess the obvious one is the potential risk that she wasn’t going to be there, so trying to work your way through that as brothers”.
Graeme Woodside, of the Prostate Cancer Foundation New Zealand says, “For some caregivers, asking for help can be very hard, and unfortunately, not everybody is tuned in to supporting you as a caregiver supporting somebody with cancer. It’s really important that you get the support you need, so that you can support the person that is having the treatment”.
Canopy Cancer Care’s aim to provide the highest quality of care, and will co-ordinate all aspects of treatment where possible, so for more information on cancer treatment, oncology Auckland and chemotherapy NZ please go to http://www.canopycancercare.co.nz .
