The Breast Care Support Group Europa Donna Malta donated 100 copies of a picture book with the title ‘The Year of the Pale Sunflower’ to the public library. Minister Dolores Christina, who attended the recent launch praised the initiative of the group and said this is a very useful book.

Written by Silvia Roncaglia and illustrated by Cristiana Cerretti on the initiative of the Swiss-Italian Europa Donna Young Patients Group, this book is a useful tool for adults, parents, teachers, counsellors and all social and healthcare workers to familiarise themselves with the subject of how a parent might communicate a cancer diagnosis to young children.

Speaking about illness with adults is already hard, but it becomes all the more difficult when it comes to our children; how to inform them, acknowledge their feelings and help them cope with the disease.

The book tells the story from the point of view of two children faced with their mother’s breast cancer and their gradual coming to an understanding of an illness unknown to them, which is much more serious than the ‘whoo-whooping cough’ or ‘measles that give you spots.’ It is an illness that makes everything uncertain, but which can also be cured. The picture book tells a sad story with sincerity and respect and is full of hope and courage.

Having to break bad news to a young person is a task that all parents dread and we hope that this book will be a great help and that the story will provide a way to ‘break the ice,’ first among adults and then with their children.

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