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A new pediatric cancer peer support program will launch June 3.

Based in Chester, national nonprofit Cancer Hope Network provides personalized, one-on-one peer mentorship support to adult cancer patients and their caregivers.

The organization announced the start of Hopeful Hearts: Parents Supporting Parents. The program connects parents facing pediatric and adolescent cancer with other parents whose children are cancer survivors. The initiative aims to offer emotional support as well as optimism.

Cancer Hope Network Executive Director and COO Beth Blakey said they created Hopeful Hearts out of recognition that parents of pediatric cancer patients needed support. Blakey pointed to research from the American Cancer Society that finds that 31.3% of parents of children with cancer are more likely to visit a clinician for a mental health-related concern (including anxiety and depression) than parents of children without cancer.

“While some hospitals offer parental support programs, not all of them do,” said Blakey. “Our key point of difference is that we provide parental support regardless of the hospital where a child is being treated and it is our deep understanding of the cancer caregiver experience that has informed our commitment to such a program – because there is no one who better understands the situation than someone who has walked in those shoes.”

Key Hopeful Hearts details include:

• Peer mentor program designed to meet needs and concerns of parents whose children face cancer
• Powered by a family funder passionate about helping families on a pediatric cancer journey
• Cancer Hope Network offers free training to all peer mentors
• Those who wish to become a peer mentor volunteer must be the parent or guardian of a pediatric cancer survivor who has been at least one year out of active treatment

Blakey said, “Our Hopeful Hearts Peer Mentors will provide parents navigating the challenges of their child’s cancer journey with the comfort of shared experiences, emotional support, and guidance. Our goal is to empower parents to advocate for their children during treatment, while also encouraging them to get the strength and support they need to better cope.”