Concern for the family and caregivers
Just as people with cancer should not spend all their time thinking about their illness, neither should family members and friends spend every spare minute thinking about or being with their loved one. Caregivers need relief and rest to stay emotionally and physically fit and be able to help the person with cancer.
If you’re the main caregiver, plan time for yourself. Ask friends or other family members for help. Tell them exactly what they can do to help. Many times they are just waiting to be asked. For more on this, please call us or go to What a Caregiver Does.
If you’re not the main caregiver of the person with cancer, it helps to think about that person, too. Caregivers often focus most of their energy and time on the person with cancer and may not have time to take care of themselves. You may be able to offer help so that they can have a much-needed break. Just a couple of hours may be a big deal for someone whose loved one is very ill. Even if you’re not able to do this, the caregiver might be glad to have someone ask how they're doing. Ask about the caregiver’s feelings, too. It can be very lonely and stressful to be the main support person for someone with cancer. With everyone concerned about the person with cancer, it’s easy for the caregiver to be overlooked.
The caregiver is often overlooked. Ask how they’re doing. Caregivers need support and encouragement, too.
Listen With Your Heart
- How do you talk to someone who has cancer?
- About cancer
- Hearing the news
- Ways people cope with a cancer diagnosis
- Communication
- Living with cancer
- Rehabilitation
- Sources of support
- Concern for the family and caregivers
- Help and information
- Visiting
- If your loved one decides to stop getting treatment
- If your loved one refuses cancer treatment
- Facing the final stage of life
- Summing up: Talking to the person with cancer
- To learn more
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as journalists, editors, and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Last Medical Review: October 1, 2016 Last Revised: October 1, 2016
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