When siblings Yasir, Yusra, and Muhammad are in a Sibling Support session or participating in the Friends Having Fun virtual group they exude an immediate jolt of exuberant energy. They bring their vibrant personalities, friendly competition, and passion to whatever they do, whether it is drawing their feelings, discussing their struggles or breaking out their best moves in a freeze dance.
Our Sibling Support Services encourages social emotional learning by having participants identify and discuss various emotions. Social emotional learning is important for children and adults in order to understand and express ourselves better. This is especially true when a sibling has been diagnosed with an illness. It raises various emotions for all family members. Some emotions that arise include sadness, anger and jealousy. In addition, through the difficult times families experience moments of joy and love. It is also possible to feel several emotions in one moment.
“Thirty-two years ago, the day before my 16th birthday, our lives changed forever when my sister Erika was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) at the age of 13.
As August fades into September the reality of the school year on the horizon is hard to deny, especially with the wonderful backpacks of freshly packaged school supplies arriving at the door of FoK families. Though the end of summer can be a bittersweet time for any child, children reentering school after being sidelined by a serious illness may have many mixed emotions that are more than just the typical butterflies.
Manuel is the father of 14-year-old Rashelle, who recently completed treatment for
Rhabdomyosarcoma, a disease in which cancer cells form in muscle tissue. Rashelle
was diagnosed in 2021 and relapsed in July 2022 after this article was written. The
family lives in New York City.
Jonathan Malawer joined the board in January 2020. He wanted to become involved with a charitable organization that he found meaningful. He immediately connected with Friends of Karen. He found the organization’s work and contribution to the community incredible and personally related having lost his childhood friend Brian in 2010 to Leukemia.
Friends of Karen currently has 22 children battling a Sarcoma. Sarcoma is known as the “forgotten cancer”. Join us in helping to raise awareness by sharing this post!
Adopt a Family Click here to view available profiles Donate now! We are happy to shop for you Help Friends of Karen deliver gifts and smiles for the holidays! Grab your friends and your colleagues to help bring smiles to critically ill children and their siblings. Every child looks forward to the holidays but when parents are struggling to care
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