Need some advice from my wise friends (cancer ment'd)**updated**

[Mrs.H]

Tess goes to preschool one morning a week. All the moms stay and we have such a great time. In the beginning of March one of the moms was telling me she had endometrial cancer a year before. Now at her one year check she was feeling well and the dr said her tests were all clear.

Today she told me the cancer is in her bladder and she'll see the oncologist on Thurs. to find out what treatment she'll need this time around. I'm so sad for her and her family. On top of that, her husband was going to file for unemployment today because his place of business just filed for bankruptcy.


So, (sorry that got kind of long) I'm wondering what I can do for this woman. I wouldn't call her a friend. We only see each other for an hour a week and most of that time we're playing with our children. I feel like there should be some way to help, but I'm at a loss as to how. Any suggestions?

Thanks!!!

UPDATE: Thaks to everyone for all of your advice. I talked with the teachers today. I think we may collect money for gas cards. She'll be driving about 45 minutes one way for treatment and with gas at such a high cost, we thought that would be a big help. They were going to talk it over with her and then let me know for sure what we will be doing.

[AmandaG]

If you feel like you could get to know her well enough, perhaps you could offer to watch her child(ren) if/when she has doctor appts, chemo/radiation appts, etc. Or, you could bring her a casserole cooked and ready to eat, or one that she can stick in her freezer for a day that she won't feel up to cooking. You are so kind to want to help her!

[Laura1]

I am thinking along the same lines as Amanda. How sad for this family.

[tasha]

If you feel like you could get to know her well enough, perhaps you could offer to watch her child(ren) if/when she has doctor appts, chemo/radiation appts, etc. Or, you could bring her a casserole cooked and ready to eat, or one that she can stick in her freezer for a day that she won't feel up to cooking. You are so kind to want to help her!

That is along the lines of what I was thinking aswell.

tasha

[BetsyE]

Yes, I agree. A friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and many in the neighborhood did dinners for the family. This was in the middle of her chemo/radiation treatment when she felt really lousy and needed to rest a lot. She seemed to really appreciate not having that task to do. Also several moms offered to take her kids to baseball practice and stuff like that when she was too sick to leave the house. Another thing that some people did was to give her gift certificates to local restaurants that either deliver or have take out. (btw - my friend is cancer-free now!)

Also, I found this website below that has wonderful gifts for cancer patients. I was looking at them to send her as a gift from our Bunko group but we ended up doing something else.
http://www.comfortsandblessings.com/home.php

Prayers to her - this is scary that it came back. That is really nice of you to care and want to do something.

[Twins_Squared]

Monica,

I would approach the preschool director and see if they are coordinating any efforts that you can join. Our preschool does things like this often--whether it's a family with an illness or a new baby, we usually take meals, etc.

[Mrs.H]

bump

[cecilia]

I think the gas cards sound like an awesome idea...paying for gas to get to treatment is just one less thing she will have to worry about. She and her family are in my prayers.