Clementine Germain

A message from someone who seen the good and bad and ugly

Thursday 27th Feb

No child should have to “tough it out,” be brave, or be strong. No child should have to be as resilient as those battling illness. Sick children don’t get an off-ramp. They have no choice but to keep fighting—no matter how exhausted or weak they feel. There are no other options.

Children shouldn’t have to call hospitals home. They shouldn’t have to miss critical developmental years because of illness.

Parents shouldn’t have to watch their child fade away in front of them.

Parents shouldn’t have to see their child so weak that they rely on machines to survive.

Parents should never have to hear their child scream and cry in pain or fear over medical procedures.

Parents shouldn’t have to watch their children spend their lives in hospital beds.

Parents shouldn’t have to lose their jobs just to support their sick children.

Society doesn’t understand what happens behind hospital walls—until they experience it themselves.

Society doesn’t see that children’s hospitals are doing everything they can, but they need more government support and funding because kids are still sick, and kids are still dying.

Society doesn’t understand that being chronically ill as a child isn’t about pretending to be unwell—it’s about pretending to be well enough to go to school, see friends, and live a normal life.

Society doesn’t realize that childhood illness can devastate an entire family.

Society won’t understand what it’s like to have a sick child—or to be one—until they experience it.

Society doesn’t see how much more help we need.

But you can help.

Share