I really want a pen pal child with cancer, so that i can give them soneone to talk to. help?

Can I ask why you think you'd be an inspiration to children with cancer?

I work with children who have cancer. Their inspirations depend on age- the younger kids are inspired by Iron Man, the Hulk, and right now, for some inexplicable reason, the minions from Despicable Me. The older kids and teens are inspired by athletes who have had cancer and have gone on to succeed in their careers, by music, by former patients who have shared their stories, and by people they admire for other reasons.

None of them would be inspired by a pen pal. Actually, to be perfectly honest, none of them would be interested in writing to someone they don't know. The only pen pals they are ever interested in are children the same age with cancer. Sometimes, I'm able to arrange that.

Children with cancer often feel like zoo exhibits when people want to talk to them or see them solely because they have cancer. They are children first. They still like pizza or ice cream, play Minecraft or love art, hang out with their friends and argue with their siblings. They are normal kids. They are not poor little beings in need of inspiration from strangers.

They do feel special- their parents make them feel special. People like me make them feel special. We also sometimes have to pull that back, because cancer or no cancer, they are kids, and they do need to do chores, finish homework, and listen to adults. The same goes for any child- there's a line a parent or caregiver walks between making a child feel special and keeping them grounded.

I can tell you that no hospital will connect you with a child. There are organizations like Chemo Angels and Make a Child Smile, where you can write to a child, but they do not write back. These kids don't owe you anything.

I think that you probably have good intentions, but take a step back and think about if you were a child with cancer. Would you want to have to write letters to someone you don't know? Probably not.

TrueSnapdragon, I understand where you are coming from and I know that your intentions are good. I have a very close friend that her very young daughter passed unfortunately from cancer. However my 11 year old son learned today in school about cerebrum palsy and came home emotional and inspired. Wanting to make a difference. He wants to give his allowance to help research and I thought perhaps trying to find a pen pal to show the another child that he cares. He wants to become a doctor and help children.

He started doing some research and came across your remark. You are extremely discouraging for children. There was nothing positive about what you said. Perhaps you help children in need but there are children out there who purely care and want to make a difference but don't have a degree yet. My son wants to help not because he feels sorry for the children that are sick but because he wants to help. Just like I am sure that doctors and nurses want to help.

I told him to take what you said with a grain of salt. Not to be discouraged and give up. I am sure there is a child out there that does need someone to care.

BTW if I was a child that has cancer and someone cared enough about me I would be touched....

There is a program where you can send cards to pepole who are in hospital, however they do not reply and you are not given any patient details.

Children with cancer have family and friends. They also have tutors trying to help them keep up with schoolwork. Very few would have time to write letters to a stranger, however well intentioned.

Parents are extremely protective of their children, particularly when ill, and details are never given out.

You could write to various hospitals with your offer in case one of the children is wanting a pen pal, but I doubt you would get a responce.

Children with cancer don't have time to be "Pen Pals"...they are too busy suffering...depending on how old you are, you can join chemoangels.com where you can become a "Chemo Angel" or "Card Angel" please note, however that these are one way conversations, and your patient will not write you back....Or you can send cards to sick children at www.SendKidsTheWorld.com...while they can not "Pen Pal" with you, they do enjoy getting cards/stickers in the mail.

Here are a few more websites...

http://www.postpals.co.uk/find.php

http://www.hugsandhope.org/kidslist.htm

Children who have cancer have families, friends and staff to look after them. Those pictures you see of sad, bald little children, sitting alone, are for fund raising purposes.

Why are you asking on-line? Are there orders of protection against you in real life?

http://www.postpals.co.uk/

What's wrong with you...?