Sharing Wisdom Pediatric Palliative Care

Tara's son Theo was born with hypoplastic left heart, a syndrome. The family was given three options; A transplant, re-routing his heart (palliative care) or keeping him comfortable until his breathing stopped, (comfort/palliative care).This is a look into the life of the kinds of challenges care giving and bereaved parents face everyday. The rewards it offers and the inherent stress care giving creates. This video hopes to educate people about pediatric palliative care, inspire clinicians and encourage families who are navigating this road with their children. A portion of this video was funded with the help of the California Health Care Foundation and Children's Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition.

A look into the life of two families care giving their seriously ill children and the different roads they went down.

Lisa and Nancy's daughter Madison was born healthy and at five months of age was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. They used all the curative medicines that were available as well as incorporated eastern philosophies into Maddy's treatment family. The quality of Madison's life was excellent, the support the Buell's received from clinicians and their community was astounding. There family wasn't told of palliative care until Maddy relapsed; the way in which the information was given led the Buell's to understand that "palliative care," was another type of chemotherapy. The Buell's were left untethered, caring for their daughter without any assistance from the hospital, there had been no mention of hospice, just a "call if you need anything," from the big shiny hospital that had given them such great treatment but now seemed not to care. The Buell's are just one example of how many families feel; abandoned by hospital staff after their options of treatment have been exhausted. They brought Maddy home to live when they were told "death" was on the horizon.