After hearing the words “your child has cancer” your life is turned upside down. You and your family have entered a place from which escape is long, arduous, and uncertain. Achieving a tolerable new normal is your goal as you find ways to juggle the many demands on your time and on your heart.

As you try to absorb the fear and heartbreak cancer throws at you, your mind never stops crying. But when you laugh, you laugh harder than you ever did. The rain feels good, the sun shines brighter, and the clouds are more miraculous than you ever noticed.

Well-intentioned people will say they don’t know how you can do it. But you know how — you have no choice. You and your family are in battle for your child’s life and the one person who knows for sure that you can do it is your child.

Surround yourself with people you can be your true self with. Find the people you can laugh with, cry with, scream with. Ask trusted friends, family members, and coworkers to take care of some items on your to-do list that you can’t get to yourself. Make your days a little easier in any ways you can.

The days of battling cancer are long ones and make no mistake, it’s not easy. But you can find joy amidst the disruption, the heartbreak, and the anxiety. And finding that joy will help your children find theirs.