Abstract

VEGA V, Paula; RIVERA M, Soledad  and  GONZALEZ R, Rina. Moving from survival to revival: understanding pareents who have lost children due to cancer. Rev. chil. pediatr. [online]. 2012, vol.83, n.3, pp. 247-257. ISSN 0370-4106.  doi: 10.4067/S0370-41062012000300006.

Introduction: A child's death due to cancer impacts parents deeply, and generates great suffering. However, some parents manage to overcome this pain, and discover a new purpose for their lives. Objective: To understand the experiences which assist fathers and mothers to revive after the death of a child due to cancer. Patients and Methods: A qualitative phenomenological model was applied. In-depth-interviews of consenting fathers and mothers who took part in a group called "Corporación Re-Viviendo" ("Re-Living"), were recorded and transcribed verbatim. For the analysis of the data, methodological precision and ethical criteria were utilized. Results: Data analysis revealed a dynamic and continuous process of multiple lived experiences, facilitating a transition from survival to revival for the participants. Conclusion: Through a process of personal growth and active renewal, parents can give meaning to the life, agony and death of a son or daughter. Thus, they allow themselves to develop the course of grief.

Keywords : Grief; parents; oncology child; cancer.