Ruth, no need to "keep these short". We all learn so much from each other when we share. I am really interested in this discussion of children, cancer and how to handle the difficult questions. When John was 1st diagnosed, our grandson[who has pretty much lived with us since he was 6] looked me in the eye and asked "Is this a life threatening disease?" It really threw me for a loop because I had not adjusted to the diagnosis yet. I mumbled the usual responses, "it's serious, good Doctors, we think everything will be O.K., etc." But Alex was here when John came home with the staples in his neck, the peg, the swollen face, etc. and has watched his granddad fight this since April. We can tell that he is very agitated over this new occurence and I am feeling so bad for him. It isn't helping that Alex's Dad[John's son] is also freaking out. I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping I say the right thing at the right time to Alex during this next round. Amy