New national awareness campaign guides families through cancer talks

Childhood Cancer of Canada is calling on the federal government for a national strategy for treatment through a new awareness campaign.

The foundation says on average, six children are diagnosed with cancer every day in Canada, which hits home for one Hamilton family.

Six-year-old Luca Raso loves football, his four-year-old sister Olivia, and is a cancer survivor.

He was diagnosed at just three-years-old, and his mom Nicole says this gave her and her husband time to let it sink in, and find a way to explain it to him.

With the Terry Fox Run on top of mind at school, Raso is starting to understand.

“They talked about how he passed, and you could see him clicking it that he had cancer,” said Nicole. “Terry Fox had cancer. Terry Fox died and you could see it clicked a little bit more for him.”

WATCH MORE: September marks 45 years of the Terry Fox Run

“What we hear a lot from families is that it’s really difficult to sort of manage the conversations with outsiders and repeat the same story,” said Angie Ramalho, the Executive Director at Childhood Cancer Canada.

With September being Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a national organization helping families has launched a new campaign called “First Day.”

The goal is to show the contrast between children returning to school, and those returning to hospital for treatment.

According to the organization, small gestures are huge.

“‘I’m going to the grocery store picking up some things, do you need anything?’ or ‘I’m in the neighbourhood, can I get you a coffee’,” said Ramalho. “We don’t have to talk, I can leave it on the porch.”

“I could look at a pre-cancer [photo] and think ‘oh my god, how didn’t I know?’,” said Nicole.

Childhood Cancer Canada has supported over 1,000 families just like the Rasos.

While her son is living cancer-free now, she says it’s always on her mind.

“He’s doing well now,” said Nicole. “My husband and I talk about it sometimes — we pause and look at him and my husband says ‘I don’t see him as a kid who has cancer anymore’.”

Raso was at school Thursday, doing kid things, just as it should be.

Anyone who knows someone who could use support from Childhood Cancer Canada, or would like to help can go to the official site here.

WATCH MORE: What you need to know about cancer and anemia