ABSTRACT
Children with malignant disease are numerically few, representing perhaps one per cent of all patients. Childhood cancer is, however, the second most common cause of death in childhood, and many children cured of their disease are left with significant problems that have effects throughout their lives. A diagnosis of malignancy affects parents, siblings and the extended family more directly than for an adult patient, and for this reason, care for the family unit has been central to paediatric oncology practice for many years.
