If cancer comes back

Sometimes cancer comes back. This can be called a relapse or recurrent cancer or it may be that a cancer that was treated in one place in the body has spread to another part.

Then we often say that a person has secondaries or metastasis from the original cancer. None of these situations is a new cancer, they are all connected to the cancer that was first discovered, maybe a long time ago. Finding out that cancer has come back can often be as bad, or even worse than finding out about cancer in the first place. If your parent's cancer has come back, there will be many emotions and reactions from everybody in the family. Remember that the way you all feel and react can be very different from each other and not always what you would expect. Common reactions are anger, sadness, shock and being scared. Some people might completely deny what is happening and pretend as if everything is fine. Others will maybe blame themselves or the doctors that the cancer has come back. It is not anyone's fault that the cancer has come back and you must not blame your parent or yourself for this. Certainly, nothing you have done or not done has had anything to do with this.

If the cancer has come back, your parent may have to have more tests and treatment. The tests and treatments that they have will depend on the type of cancer and where in the body the cancer is. Some treatment will be used to kill the new cancer cells, whilst other treatment might be for reducing symptoms such as pain, tiredness or any other problem that may bother your parent. Although it is worrying when cancer comes back, it is important to remember that there are many forms of treatment that can be used when this happens.