Kids & Teens
Cancer, explained for you
Cancer can feel scary and confusing. These pages explain it in plain, gentle words — whether you have cancer, or someone you love does. You can read them yourself, or with a grown-up. Every page has a “Read this to me” button, too.
Grown-ups: this section is written to be read by children and teens. It has no sign-ups, ads, or tracking. It never predicts what will happen to a specific person — those questions are always sent back to you and the care team. For your own guides, see the Childhood Cancer section.
Kids' Corner
Ages 6–12 · For kids who have cancer, or just want to understand it. Best read together with a grown-up.
- What Is Cancer?What cancer actually is, explained with the tiniest building blocks in your body — your cells.
- Can You Catch Cancer?Cancer is not like a cold. Here's why you can't catch it from anyone.
- Did I Do Something Wrong?The most important thing to know: cancer is never a kid's fault.
- The Medicine That Fights CancerChemo, radiation, and surgery, explained gently — the different ways doctors fight cancer.
- Why Does Hair Fall Out?Why some cancer medicines make hair fall out — and why it comes back.
- Why Am I So Tired?Cancer tiredness is different from regular tired. Here's why, and what helps.
- What Happens at the Hospital?Scans, IVs, ports, and 'sleepovers' at the hospital — what they are and what they feel like.
- Big Feelings Are OkayAll the big feelings that come with cancer — and why letting them out helps.
- The Big Machine: What Radiation Is LikeWhat a radiation visit is really like, from the big machine to the little dot marks, told step by step.
- What Is a Port?The little button under the skin that saves you from pokes — how it gets there, how it works, and what it feels like.
- Scan Day: Pictures of the Inside of YouWhat CT and MRI scans are like — the sounds, the table that slides, and why holding still is your superpower.
- Pokes, Needles, and Blood TestsWhy doctors need a little bit of your blood, and real tricks that make pokes hurt less.
- Going Back to SchoolFirst-day worries, questions from classmates, and getting back into the swing of school after treatment.
- When Your Friend Has CancerWhat to say, what to do, and how to keep being a great friend when a kid you know has cancer.
- Going to the Hospital Clinic With FamilyA simple guide for kids visiting a clinic or hospital with family.
- Talking With Friends About Cancer in the FamilyA gentle guide for kids when talking with friends about family health.
- When Your Brother or Sister Has ChemotherapyA gentle guide for kids when a brother or sister gets medicine called chemo.
When someone you love has cancer
Ages 6–12 · For kids when a parent, brother, or sister has cancer.
- When Your Mom or Dad Has CancerFor kids when a parent has cancer — what might change, and what stays the same.
- When Your Brother or Sister Has CancerFor kids when a sibling has cancer — including the feelings nobody talks about.
- When the Medicine Isn't WorkingA gentle page for when grown-ups say the treatment isn't working anymore — what it means, and what stays true.
- Visiting Someone You Love at the HospitalWhat a hospital room is like, why there are tubes and beeping machines, and how to make a great visit.
For Teens
Ages 13–17 · Straight talk for teens — whether it's your diagnosis or someone else's.
- You Have Cancer: What Teens Want to KnowWhat it's really like to be a teenager with your own cancer diagnosis — the feelings, the facts, and the people in your corner.
- Questions You're Allowed to Ask Your DoctorsReal questions teens can ask their doctors, plus tips for getting answers you actually understand.
- Cancer, School, and FriendsMissing school, telling friends (or not), and coming back after treatment — how to handle the social side of cancer as a teen.
- When Your Parent Has Cancer (for Teens)How to cope when a parent has cancer: the guilt, the extra responsibility, telling friends, and who to lean on.
- Clinical Trials and TeensWhat clinical trials are, how safety is watched, and how teens and young adults decide whether to join.
- Life After TreatmentFinishing treatment, follow-up visits, scanxiety, and easing back into school, sports, and friends at your own pace.
- When Your Brother or Sister Has Cancer (for Teens)Straight talk for teen siblings — the invisible-kid feeling, the guilt, the changed house rules, and how to get through it.
- When Your Friend Has Cancer (for Teens)What to text, what not to say, and how to actually be there when a friend your age gets cancer.
- Hair Loss, Scars, and Looking DifferentFor teens dealing with hair loss, weight changes, ports, and scars — real talk about body image during treatment.
- Feelings That Are Hard to NameThe weird, contradictory, un-Instagrammable feelings that come with cancer — yours or someone else's — and what to do with them.
Hard words, made easy
A picture-simple dictionary of 64 cancer words — like tumor, chemo, and port — explained the way you’d tell a friend.
Open the word listIf you feel scared or sad and want to talk to someone, that’s okay and it’s brave. Tell a grown-up you trust. Grown-ups can also find help on our support resources page.