I recently heard about the Nanny Angel Network and their charitable organization that finds volunteer caregivers to help out with child care for mothers who have been diagnosed with cancer, for those requiring palliative care and for families requiring additional relief during the bereavement period.
The company was founded by Audrey Guth who is a breast cancer survivor, mother of four and the president of Diamond Personnel, a nanny placement agency. She found that there was no free in-home childcare program for mothers with cancer provided by the healthcare system and set out to solve this problem.
To qualify for the free child-care, mothers must be currently undergoing cancer treatment, or be in the early stages of recovery, with a child under the age of twelve. Care during the bereavement is also an option.
There are also few hospitals or cancer treatment centres that provide onsite childcare that is needed during a mother’s visit. Many women will refuse to take their children to these facilities due to many fears which include a fear of infection or the fear of leaving them totally unsupervised for hours at a time. Mothers sometimes also face the fear of not being alert and well enough to escort their children home safely after treatment.
This is an excerpt from a feature in the Toronto Guardian. To keep reading, view the full feature in the Toronto Guardian here.