Cierpienie i śmierć w doświadczeniach dzieci i młodzieży z chorobą nowotworową. Na podstawie literatury faktu

Cancer is one of the most traumatic experiences that children and young people can face in their lifetime. It appears suddenly with a horrible diagnosis and prognosis, thereby changing their lives irreversibly. It makes children and adolescents face the most difficult questions, such as suffering and death. The paper seeks to show the painful and difficult reality of suffering that children and young people go through. Non-fiction literature has made it possible to rely on concrete, authentic examples of attitudes. Accordingly, I could distinguish the main, as I think, kinds of suffering in their lives caused by the disease. They are related with the loss of confidence in God, lack of an appropriate communication between children and parents and doctors, disrupted or inhibited social contacts. There is also a sense of guilt because of parents' suffering and compassion with other ill people. Thus children are unable to cope with their suffering. The final part of the paper attempts to show the issue of death and how ill children make it sensible. In my paper I have made use of the third chapter of a master's thesis entitled „Suffering and Death in the Eyes of Children and Adolescents with Cancer. On the Basis of Non-fiction.” The thesis was written in the Institute of Education KUL under the supervision of dr. M. B. Styk, professor of KUL.