Maddie

"When I was six my dad was diagnosed with Hodgkins-Lymphoma, which is a type of cancer in your lymph nodes. He battled it for about a year before he passed away. So I was a child touched by cancer"

"I was young so I didn't understand it fully. I knew what it was, and I remember the moment he passed, but it wasn't until a couple years later that I felt the grief and the loss. Growing up I was very private about it, but now I'm more open and I enjoy sharing it with other people"

"When my dad died, my mom became the breadwinner. She had to raise me and my brother on a single income. It was an interesting time because after a while she started dating other people, and we all had to adjust to that"

"I think I feel connected to other people who are affected by cancer because of my dad. Right now I'm working with families who have been touched by cancer. My whole job as a social worker is to help people who are going through tough times, emotionally or financially."

"The mementos of my dad are very important to me. I keep them in a box and I listen to his voice recordings or look at his pictures sometimes, and I think that's very important. Families should cherish those moments and have opportunities to talk about goals for themselves, their kids, even if they aren't dying"

"One memory that sticks out to me was when I was a social worker at Overlake hospital. We had a 50 year old man who had gotten lung cancer, and I managed to find him and his daughter a place to go. It was special because he didn't have any money, and we were able to get over that hurdle and find him somewhere to go. We found him a nursing home, and he lived several more months because he was surrounded by people he loved"