RECORDED Thu 13 Nov 2025
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Cancer impact, school connections, complex health conditions, Camp Quality, education programs, puppet shows, shared language, social isolation, mental health, normalcy, early detection, peer support, school community, psychosocial impact, childhood cancer.
SPEAKERS: Megan Gilmour, Robbie Greenwell
Megan Gilmour 00:00
This episode is proudly brought to you by the TPG Telecom Foundation dedicated to creating opportunities to improve the health, wellbeing and education of Australian communities in need.
Hi, I’m Megan Gilmour, MissingSchool Co-founder and CEO, and this is Live & Learn. This is the podcast that unearths insights at the intersection of health and education, building a powerful alliance to keep kids with complex health conditions connected to school from anywhere. The podcast is recorded on Ngunnawal land, and we acknowledge and pay respect to the traditional owners of this land and the land on which you’re listening.
Megan Gilmour 00:44
Welcome to our weekly webcast, a place to zero in on the interplay between health and education and to amplify the voices of those supporting school students to navigate their educational journeys despite complex health challenges.
And today on Live & Learn, we have Robbie Greenwell. Robbie is an acting graduate from Flinders Drama Centre in Adelaide, South Australia, with experience in theater, film and education. He has worked with Camp Quality’s education programs for the past eight years and now serves as Education and Puppet programs Project Manager.
In this role, Robbie oversees the scoping, development and implementation of key projects, increasing support and awareness for children and families facing cancer. Welcome Robbie. We’re so excited to have you on Live and Learn today.
Robbie Greenwell 01:35
Hi, Megan. Thank you for having me.
Megan Gilmour 01:38
Our pleasure. So, we’re here to talk about the supporting of school connections for students with complex medical or mental health conditions. So, let’s head to the first question.
Robbie, tell us how cancer impacts kids and why it’s something that every Australian needs to know and care about.
Robbie Greenwell 02:00
Well, Megan, everybody will be touched by cancer at some point in their lifetime, and that can be either through their own diagnosis, or through the diagnosis of a loved one.
We know that every week in Australia, two families will be told that their child has cancer. So, it’s a reality for a lot of Australian families and those rates, unfortunately, are increasing as well.
And with that there’s the demand for the sort of programs and services that organisations such as Camp Quality offer to help support them through that diagnosis and treatment and their journey.
Megan Gilmour 02:44
Yes, and it’s certainly a big journey. And yes, I mean listening to that stat, that opening stat to families every day in Australia will hear that diagnosis for their child, it’s certainly something that every Australian needs to know and care about. And I guess many people probably assume things about kids with cancer.
So, what’s the million-dollar question you get from parents or loved ones when their child is diagnosed with cancer?
Robbie Greenwell 03:15
That’s a great question. Megan, I think it’s for me, through the work I’ve done, it’s really that question of how can we get our child back to some sense of normalcy? How can we help them to just be kids again? Because that’s been taken away from them.
And I suppose part of that also, to give them some sense of normalcy, it’s how do we talk about it? How do we talk about it with our kids in an age-appropriate way?
Megan Gilmour 03:49
Yes, I really feel that in every part of my body as we talk about that and you talk about normalcy. People who know my journey know my son spent a lot of time in the cancer ward of the Sydney Children’s Hospital. So, I have a visceral experience of what you’re talking about, and that normalcy and the age-appropriate conversations, because these kids are in a healthcare setting where adults are around them, talking about some very big things.
And your point there about the protection of their childhood is so important.
So, what’s the most important thing that you want them to know? Those parents, those loved ones, the children themselves, when they have that diagnosis?
Robbie Greenwell 04:42
I think that it can affect everybody differently, when we’re talking about a whole family, and even wider than that, when we’re thinking about the flow on effect to school, to friendship groups, to their world.
It’s going to affect everybody a little differently, because we often find out through the work that we do is that everybody’s been touched in a different way, and you don’t know what sort of information they’re coming with, what presumptions, what knowledge they’re coming to the table with as well.
So, it’s so important to try and develop a bit of a shared language. That’s really at the heart of what we do with our education programs as well.
Megan Gilmour 05:33
Yes, that’s an important point that doesn’t often come out in these conversations, in the way that you’ve just said it so simply is that whilst it’s an experience that everyone’s going through in that moment, or that through it through that period of time, everybody’s having a different experience of that from their own perspective, and the shared language is so important, and understanding what’s going on, understanding those experiences is so vital to navigating them.
So, if you’re willing to share, we’d love to know what brought you into the world of kids with cancer.
Robbie Greenwell 06:17
Absolutely, happy to share, Megan. So I am, as you went through my bio, I’m a performer. I trained at Flinders Drama School as an actor, and when I finished my course, I saw a job opportunity as a casual puppeteer for Camp Quality, and I thought, gosh, I’ve never puppeteered before.
But thankfully, they said on the job training offered, I thought, fantastic. I’d love to try my hand at that. You know, remembering those, those memories of being a sock puppeteer as a child, not such a distant skill as I was to discover – very important to remember those early skills.
But yes, part of the interest was certainly from the performance side of things but then learning more about the organisation and the cause behind it, supporting children and their families facing cancer was something that was really close to my heart, because when I was 12 years old, I lost my mum to cancer. She’d had breast cancer, which had metastasised to her brain.
And at the time, I didn’t know about Camp Quality, and so I couldn’t help but also reflect on that and think, wow, if I’d had, you know, an organisation like that supporting my family, how helpful that would have been. So yes, it’s a cause that’s really close to my heart.
Megan Gilmour 07:43
Indeed. And thank you for being willing to share that big journey of your own, and that that journey took place through the eyes of a child, and you didn’t have this kind of – well its more than a program actually, but it’s that shared and understood lived experience and how vital that is.
I also reflect on what you were saying about bringing your professional passion to this, and I just like to touch into that a little bit. What was it about being able to puppeteer, that you connected to a way of helping kids, like, what was that link?
Robbie Greenwell 08:39
It’s sort of just a permission to be fun and silly, in a way, Megan, because you’re putting on these characters that are so far removed from, you know, all of the Camp Quality puppet characters, I’d say – bar one – are all kids. So, it’s a chance to step into that and be a kid again, in a way. And they’re animated, colorful characters in themselves.
So yes, as a performer, that’s such rich sort of material to just play with. And you get that immediate feedback from the kids. They form connections with these characters, they become friends with them, they play games with them. Yes, it’s such a rewarding job.
Megan Gilmour 09:27
Yes and I’m guessing that this bit of play and fantasy is a way to, I won’t say, distract, but actually take those kids out of their lived and felt situation, which is so complex, back into that childlike wonder and fascination and playful sort of, you know, a place to forget about cancer.
Robbie Greenwell 09:55
You’re exactly right, because one of the other things we do. We have got our puppet shows that go into schools, but we also visit kids on the wards while they’re having their treatment on the pediatric oncology wards around Australia, with the puppets.
And it is – we within our team refer to it as a bit of play therapy and distraction therapy. It’s a chance to help them just be kids again. If just for a moment.
Megan Gilmour 10:23
Yes. It’s one of the reasons why I never refer to kids in this circumstance as patients. I’ll only call them kids and in our work – students, because it’s such a noble – I just don’t want to place them into that definition as a patient. You know what I mean?
To me, it’s just, they’re kids, and wow, boy, they can get into the play and lose touch with all the agony, really, really quickly, so you just go straight there. It’s just quite wonderful to watch them skating around on their drip stands and whatever else they do. You know, just being kids.
It’s something that I’ll always remember and hold dear, because you just see just how incredible they are in the face of a really, really, really difficult diagnoses and the things that happen to them and they just want to play.
So, knowing all you know, what’s your biggest hope for kids with cancer and their families and loved ones when they’re navigating this really difficult journey.
Robbie Greenwell 11:36
I think it comes back to that shared language for me, Megan, it’s wanting people to not be afraid to have a conversation about cancer. That would be my biggest thing, I think, because I just see how it can close down communication and leave people isolated and excluded.
So, I think that’s the biggest thing. I want to see people starting a conversation and not being too afraid just to ask, you know, is it okay if we talk about it?
Megan Gilmour 12:19
Yes, yes, it is a difficult one, isn’t it? Or can be a difficult one for people, what do I say – you know. That’s kind of the feeling that trepidation about going there, but I love that what you’ve said there, and that shared language, being open to talking just communication is connection, isn’t it, above all else.
What are some of the common and perhaps frustrating public misconceptions about kids with cancer, and how have you seen this impact them and of them and their families?
Robbie Greenwell 12:56
I think one of the big things for us that we talk about in the puppet shows Megan is that you can’t catch cancer, and you’d be surprised how common that can be amongst kids, thinking that it’s like a cold or a flu, and again, that can very quickly lead to that isolation, that exclusion that we’ve sort of talking about.
I’ve seen how that can make the return to school for kids just so much harder than it needs to be. You know, they’ve already missed out on schooling, on homework, they’re trying to play catch up, and then they’ve got the added social pressures as well, of being excluded and isolated.
Megan Gilmour 13:43
Yes, ostracised by that fear of catching cancer. Yes, that’s a big one, isn’t it? I don’t think about that myself, so I think it’s a really important one to call out, and especially kids who don’t know what cancer is, so that’s the assumption, it’s like a cold or chicken pox or something else.
And certainly, there’s so much to deal with, so adding that to the mix would make it very tricky indeed. Thanks for sharing that.
And how many Australian children and youth are living with cancer right now? Do you have a number for that?
Robbie Greenwell 14:33
So, we’ve got, just having a look at some of the stats which are available online. If anybody’s ever interested, head over to the Cancer Council website. But every year, about 1200 young people are diagnosed with cancer.
Megan Gilmour 14:53
Yes, I think it used to be 1000 a year. That was the number I had in my mind. You said that it’s increasing, so 1200 young people a year, did I hear that right?
Robbie Greenwell 15:14
That’s correct.
Megan Gilmour 15:15
And so, if we think about 13 years of schooling, that’s a lot of kids over that time in school with cancer, or who’ve had a cancer journey.
Do you have any insights from the data or from your work as to why the number is increasing?
Robbie Greenwell 15:40
Not, I’m not too sure, certainly I can’t comment on it, Megan, from any sort of clinical perspective, I suppose. But what I would suspect is, I wonder, with improved, perhaps screening, technologies processes, is that leading to us being able to diagnose more readily? I would suspect that might be a factor.
Megan Gilmour 16:11
Yes,
Robbie Greenwell 16:14
I would suspect that might be a factor.
Megan Gilmour 16:17
Yes, and sorry to put you on the spot like that, because that’s, that is a good question to answer, but I think I can leave it as a rhetorical question. You know, wow, why is that? That’s really staggering.
And well, we also know that our medical systems, our medical science, is advancing on cures and on, you know, treatments improving, and all of that sort of thing too. So, there’s that side of it, but I wasn’t aware of that there are rising numbers there.
Is there a risk of delayed diagnosis or are most cases of childhood cancer picked up easily, and again, this is just a light touch. Don’t feel obligated to answer this. But does Camp Quality have a perspective on that aspect, given your work?
Robbie Greenwell 17:18
Yes, again, I can’t comment on it from a from a clinical perspective, Megan, but I can certainly say from a Camp Quality perspective, in terms of what we do with our programs and services, we’re really trying to put that at the forefront of communities of school communities more broadly – school communities more specifically, I should say.
So yes with our education programs, the puppet shows and even Bloom, the new web series we’ve just launched for teens facing cancer, there is content around early detection prevention measures, so we undertook a review of our education programs to bring them into a closer alignment with Cancer Australia’s ‘Australian Cancer Plan’.
So, there’s some age-appropriate information in each of our education offerings for those kids, you know, just to sort of get them thinking about, you know, without being too heavy-handed about it. Here are some things to think about, you know, if you’re worried, obviously, always talk to an adult you trust and your doctor. But here are some things to consider that will help you lead a long and healthy life, hopefully.
Megan Gilmour 18:38
Yes, great, and that’s sitting right there with the points you made earlier about better conversations, not making this a taboo subject, or doing the opposite, which is giving people and kids, I suppose, even teachers, that confidence to be able to have better conversations about cancer.
And connecting back to your very first answer, which was, everybody will come into contact with cancer in their lives in one way or another. So, you know all of that preparation for kids, or even understanding the experience of some of their peers is really vital.
What kind of complications do you hear of or do you see kids with cancer facing.
Robbie Greenwell 19:33
So, we’ve talked about social isolation. That’s a big one. But there is also, of course, the physical implications and the cancer treatment as well, obviously have potential implications there.
There’re a number of social impacts as well on those kids too. We know, as you sort of mentioned before, Megan, we’re talking about quite an impact on their schooling as well, and their ability to hit those milestones in their schooling and being pulled out of school a lot, which obviously has quite an effect too.
And then there’s also the ongoing increased risk of developing secondary cancers later in life as well. This is something that there may be some misconceptions around, ‘oh, okay, you’re in remission, you’re cancer free’, but little do we know, I’m sure you’re well aware of it, Megan is that cloud that can hang over – well, I’m not out of the woods just yet, which people may assume, but it’s often not the case.
Megan Gilmour 20:47
Yes, and that leads to anxiety and mental health issues as well, doesn’t it? I know these kids have a big battle with – obviously medical anxiety. They have some really, really harsh treatments, chemotherapy, and the physical impacts that you flagged.
Their physical features can change in their treatment, which really draws a lot of attention to them in a way that they wouldn’t want; losing hair, some medications can cause swelling of the face, and, you know, other things like that. And then we’ve got that anxiety and the mental health issues, of course, and developmental delays can be part of it too.
So, there’s a lot of things sitting there for the kids, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg, really. I know Robbie, both you and I are probably reluctant to go into the depths of what the physical complications can look like. Yes, but suffice to say that it’s a big journey for them.
What about siblings and peers of kids with cancer? What should we be across here? What do you see in your work?
Robbie Greenwell 22:13
Well, I think so much of the attention, the energy of parents is going to the child who has cancer, fair enough. But that can often mean that the sibling may feel that they’re not maybe getting what they need, and that perhaps they’re being forgotten, you know, how much they’re being brought into the conversation. All those sorts of things can happen.
And that flows on to their school as well, their schooling and the perception around what’s happening with their family from the school community outside, you know. So, their life is going through a huge change as well, their identity, too.
Megan Gilmour 23:08
Yes, and you mentioned earlier that the cancer journey is a different experience for everyone involved and siblings, in most cases are kids, too.
Tell us about what you see with your programs in schools, like how do peers, how do classmates in the classroom react to conversations about cancer, at least from your perspective in your work, like, what does that look like?
Robbie Greenwell 23:39
I mean, it’s a real it’s a real journey, usually, Megan. I feel like, and it’s obviously depending on the circumstances, but it can start off with maybe some trepidation, which we often try to diffuse with the fun and excitement of the show.
Because even though we are there to talk about cancer, we try and do it in a really inclusive, engaging, interactive way with the puppets, and then also, by extension, with Bloom, as well, with the Bloom web series, we’ve tried to create something that speaks to the reality of a diagnosis, and the upheaval, the loneliness, the isolation of that.
But there’s also beautiful moments in that too, where you see people show support in tremendous ways and the connections that can come through such a tricky period.
And so, it’s quite beautiful to see, by the end of a show, or by the end of the web series, how it just unlocks something in people, and they say, ‘Yes, wow, I didn’t know that about the cancer experience’. Or, you know, ‘I didn’t know that side of it from the sibling perspective’, or ‘wow, it never occurred to me that someone would be feeling that way about their sister’s diagnosis,’ or the mother’s perspective ‘my gosh, you know, the financial pressures of going through that journey’.
So, it’s usually a really beautiful moment when we finish a puppet show, we finish watching the web series where you can see people, something has clicked, and they get to know more when they can, because we do Q and A’s after the puppet show.
So that’s often where kids will be popping up their hands to can you tell us a bit more about cancer? Or, you know what about this part of it. Yes, it’s great to see it crack open.
Megan Gilmour 25:52
Yes, and especially since we know that peer connections are so important to young people – they’re important to all of us – and there’s vital friendships and relationships formed at school, some of which end up being lifelong.
And we know from our work that kids with complex or chronic health conditions are five times more likely to be bullied than their peers and bullied on the basis of their illness.
So, I just stitched that in there, because what you’ve explained there about being in the classroom and creating those moments of empathy are surely going to have an effect on how peers and friends relate to children in their class or school who have cancer.
And given what you’ve said, there’s probably more than one child in the school who’s having a cancer journey, perhaps depending on the size of the school. So yes, and the flow on effects to other people in their life, not just in the school setting. So, it sounds like a really important thing to do.
I know there’s a lot of work going on teaching children kindness. I feel like the kinds of behaviors and understanding directed towards specific things really help kids pull that big concept through into real action. Like, the understanding of a specific thing like cancer could actually create compassion in a way that a general talk about kindness might not.
Robbie Greenwell 27:45
Yes, that’s right, yes. And it really can be that immediate afterwards. I think back to one show where there was someone in the audience who we were there for her – the request had come from her family to support this girl’s return back to school. And she’d lost her hair, and she was wearing a beanie, and she’d been quite nervous about the changed appearance, and for people to know that and see it.
And by the end of the show, she’d taken off her beanie and was running around with the kids, and they’re all united with that. And it was just such a beautiful moment, going, ‘Aha’ see, kids just go, ‘Yes, that’s what I’ve got to do, alright, come with me’.
Megan Gilmour 28:30
That’s it. They’re just like, ‘Oh, you’ve got bald head. Oh, well, let’s play!’ Yes, they don’t want to be bothered by things that take them away from fun and curiosity, you know – let’s get on with it, kind of thing.
That’s what I’ve witnessed. It’s quite remarkable. And I can picture those moments that you’re talking about as really important moments of connection.
So, we’ve talked about this – this next question was about the current population of school age children with cancer. I’ve tried to work that out before, it’s a really tough one to work out.
You’ve got that 1200 number, then you’ve got kids who are cured throughout that, kids who don’t make it – and that is a fact as well, a fact that we need to acknowledge.
And so, I don’t have that number. But do you have the number of the current population of school aged children with cancer? And if you do, how accurate do you think it is, and is that data being tracked by the people who track data?
Robbie Greenwell 29:18
Sure, so I do have that information, which is publicly available again, Megan, on the Cancer Council website, cancer.org.au. So, in 2024 this is where the data is from. It’s estimated that 760 children age zero to 14 years will have been diagnosed with cancer in Australia.
Megan Gilmour 30:12
Yes. So that’s the problem for me. There’ no data on five- to 18-year-olds, so it’s really hard to work out how I’ve done the zero to 14 and tried to trim off the – yes, it was just got too complicated.
But it’s a lot of kids anyway, and kids who do experience a cure are also living with the ongoing effects of cancer in their school journey, and we probably might touch on that a bit as we talk about school.
Do kids with cancer, currently miss a lot of school, in your opinion, or based on what Camp Quality knows, and if so, why?
Robbie Greenwell 30:55
Yes firstly, yes, they definitely miss a lot of school, Megan, and I guess this comes back to the demands of treatment, of being in hospital for treatment, but then also being immunocompromised when they’re out of hospital.
Megan Gilmour 31:15
Yes, for people who don’t know what that is, do you want to fill us in?
Robbie Greenwell 31:19
Yes, sure. So basically, it’s where they have an increased susceptibility to any common infection, any of the other diseases that would be seasonally floating around, you know, that are going to be hitting them harder than then someone who is not immunocompromised, who has an immune system that’s functioning well.
Megan Gilmour 31:48
Yes, and those, and for people who don’t know, chemotherapy, really knocks your immune system out. And then some of the other drugs that kids with cancer take, or need, are also suppressing the immune system that we rely on every day to stop us from, as you say, getting those community-based infections and things. So, yes, and understandably, families and healthcare professionals really don’t want kids at school when they’re in that situation, because it can be life threatening.
And so, yes, that’s, I can concur with what Robbie’s saying here, kids with cancer miss a lot of school, large, lengthy amounts of time, and then sometimes, intermittently, throughout their school journey, from the side effects of treatment or ongoing issues.
So, it has been one of the largest cohorts of children that MissingSchool has supported. So, our data also backs up what we’re saying here. And I think it’s also a very obvious amount of time missed. It’s not sort of dripped along a whole school life. It’s a really big slab of time there for quite a while.
So, and hopefully they get back to school, but as we said before, that is not always the case, which makes what we do today all the more important. It’s not just about waiting until they get back to school. It’s about making sure that their quality of life now, today, and that they’re seen and heard is really, really important.
Is there anything you’d like to comment on Robbie in terms of your work and Camp Quality’s work about what you see as the critical times in the school life of a kid with cancer? Anything stand out there? And you know what families and schools might need to understand about those critical times in the school life of a kid with cancer?
Robbie Greenwell 34:11
I would say perhaps the most critical time would be that return to school, Megan. Yes, that’s sort of where we try to bridge or help that transition with our education programs. It’s just making sure that not just the family and the child impacted feel supported, but it’s the school community too, because, again, they’re coming from a lot of different points of knowledge, points of comfort with the topic and knowing what to say, what not to say. Yes, so that’s really, really an important time.
Megan Gilmour 34:55
Yes, the transitions.
Robbie Greenwell 34:57
Transitions, for sure.
Megan Gilmour 34:59
Yes, and such an important thing to do as well. It’s not just a show of support, but as you said, it’s that education of the school community that can lead to greater compassion, greater understanding, better conversations.
But importantly, to reduce what you said was that misconception that causes kids to be isolated further when they return to school, that, ‘Oh, we don’t want to catch that. We can’t go, we can’t be near you’.
So that stigma, I guess we could call it as well. It might not just be fearing that someone else will catch it, but the stigma to do with cancer and I think that’s what you’re saying is what you address through your programs, is reducing that stigma that might occur and increasing the beneficial aspects of understanding.
Robbie Greenwell 36:10
Exactly, it’s just as much about, you know, what we’re trying to do is, is show how to be a supportive friend too, you know, what are those appropriate practices that people can, that people can do.
Megan Gilmour 36:25
Would you like to comment on what some of those are? Because my next question was, what’s maybe the biggest vulnerabilities facing kids with cancer at school? What do you think those practices are, or what do you know those practices are, and how would they sort of support the challenges that might occur?
Robbie Greenwell 36:49
I think it kind of comes back to that, that sense of normalcy and helping them to have that. So, it’s you know, the everyday things of, are they somebody that you were kicking the footy around with after school, make sure that they’re still being included in that, you know what I mean.
Or sending them a text message, sending them a little support message in some way, shape or form, just to know that you see them, you know, and you’re here for them.
A lot of the feedback that we had when we were creating Bloom, which we did through a co-design process, talking to families with lived experience of cancer, was just that they didn’t always want to talk about cancer as well.
They want to talk about normal day-to-day things. You know, cancer isn’t the be all and end all of their lives now, yes, it’s taken out a huge chunk of their time, and it’s changed their perception of themselves and their identity.
But they still like doing the day-to-day things and things that they always used to do. So, it’s just as much about that, and not feeling like you have to talk as well. It’s let that person guide the conversation too, but you just be there and help them be kids as well.
Megan Gilmour 38:34
Yes, and we’ve talked about identity a lot, haven’t we? And you can see why the audience, I hope can see why, based on this conversation, it’s so tricky because we’re wanting to create the normalcy, but we’re also not wanting to ignore what’s going on, and that can be really tricky.
Robbie Greenwell 38:56
Yes it’s a fine balance I suppose.
Megan Gilmour 39:01
Yes, then your programs are supporting people to put themselves in those shoes, not only of the person with cancer, but also of the different actors, the different people around that person, including them as a friend or a classmate.
It’s all that stuff about, well, we weren’t really friends. I was just a classmate, but I don’t want to now try to pretend to be a friend. So, what do I do? You know, these are the kind of complications that go on.
The thing about identity is, really, I love this conversation about remembering that the cancer is not everything about that person. It’s important to recognise the journey and acknowledge that. It’s also to see who they are without that cancer, and that is part of what you’re saying is a reach towards normalcy, isn’t it, not just what we do, but also how you identify with someone who’s having that experience as well?
And I applaud you and Camp Quality for the work that you’re doing with Bloom. This vignette, this video-based story of different actors in the cancer journey and their perspectives, because it is tricky for people to navigate and understand.
And you sort of need to have that modeled for you as well. Whether, whatever age you are, you might need to have those conversations modeled or that, that perspective shown to you before you know what to do.
So, this is a question you may want to answer, or you may not want to answer, but I’ll ask it anyway.
Apart from Camp Quality, what’s happening now to address these challenges and vulnerabilities for kids in school, and do you think it’s enough?
Robbie Greenwell 41:24
I can only really speak to Camp Quality, Megan, and what we’re doing with the Cancer Education Program, and within that we’ve talked about the puppet shows, Bloom. We’ve also got an app called Kids Guide to Cancer that’s free to download on smartphones and tablets, and that’s a great one with any of those common questions that pop up around, what is cancer, what are the treatments, what does the treatment journey look like? What are the ins and outs of that and different places, hospitals, that people end up.
But I suppose it’s never enough, in a way, because it’s still so, you know, each person’s journey is so specific, and so to a degree we end up talking about it in a general way. I mean, I’d love to see more services that really get to the nitty gritty of individual patient’s experiences, more and more,
which I know is tricky, but, yes, I suppose I’ll leave it there.
Megan Gilmour 42:44
I think that’s a really great jumping off point, because for us, we see a child’s school, community and education as being something that can really make a difference in a young person’s life in a cancer journey, that remaining connected to that community in real time, because we’ve shared that it’s – well, sometimes impossible to physically be at school, regardless of the desire to do so.
And, of course, there’s that protective isolation we talked about, which has to do with this young person being immune compromised and needing the safety of isolation to get them through that time, so they don’t contract a potentially life-threatening infection.
So that’s where MissingSchool comes in, in terms of our work with our government engagement, to try and make sure that we can retain as many school days as possible for children if we connect them virtually into their classrooms. And we saw that sort of widespread approach taken during COVID, and we heard from a number of our students, including immune compromised kids with cancer, that this was the first time they were able to be – COVID was the first time they were actually able to be connected real time to their all their classmates and their teacher. And then it got taken away again after COVID.
So, we know it’s possible, and I, I’m just going to make that plug right there for that. I think is what we can do better, absolutely, is to maintain that education as almost therapy. Just to know that you’re not you’re not just a cancer patient, you’re a kid, you’re a student, and you matter. Your life’s important, and you’re remembered for your education as well.
Because our greatest hope is that these young people will survive. That’s why we’re doing everything in our medical systems, and Camp Quality and MissingSchool, because the goal is survival and then to be able to live well. So that’s my plug, and that’s my platform.
But I wanted to ask you, as we wrap up, is there anything else that we should be talking about to do with school quality of life that you feel that we’ve missed here today? Is there something else you’d like to add to what you’ve said, Robbie?
Robbie Greenwell 45:39
I suppose I’d love to just circle back to sort of where we started, Megan, talking about for school communities. I’d love to see them embracing the opportunity to talk about this topic, about cancer.
Because it’s not just about cancer, as we’ve touched on, it’s also about, you know, when we talk about cancer, we’re also talking about the mental health and wellbeing of individuals as well, and that can apply to so many facets of life.
So, it’s really, in a way, an opportunity to open up conversations around ways to look after yourself and those around you when you’re going through a really tricky time, but you can apply it in every everyday life as well.
And that is something that we try to do. Yes, we’re there to talk about what cancer is and how it affects people in the treatment, but it’s also about the psychosocial impact as well, right? And how do we mitigate that, and that can apply to a lot of life’s challenges, regardless of cancer.
Megan Gilmour 47:09
Yes, that’s such a vital point to make. I love that you’ve made that connection. So, we talked about kindness and we talked about compassion. And I think while Camp Quality and organisations like Camp Quality, even MissingSchool, we have our work that we measure the impact of, but we can never measure the unintended consequences of the work that we do, which is hopefully positive, unintended consequences, or downstream consequences, which is that the work has added to in this case, that Robbie and I are talking about to school life, which is a huge proportion of a young person’s life.
So, we’re talking about people in the developmental stages, that it’s really about understanding how to be a human and the human condition and all that that involves. I mean, Robbie, you’ve shared about your life experience with losing your mum at a young age, and you had to navigate that through school as well.
Everybody’s got something, everybody’s going through something. And if only we could just remember that more as we go about our days and lives. It’s this work is so vital because it is helping people at a developmental age to appreciate that life might not be perfect, but we can make it a lot better by what we do.
Robbie Greenwell 48:52
Well said.
Megan Gilmour 48:53
It’s been so great to talk to you, and we always throw this in the in at the end, which is, do you have a call to action? What would be your call to action for kids with cancer in seven words or less. Shoot it out there – no pressure [laughter]!.
Robbie Greenwell 49:13
A call to action for kids facing cancer? I would say book in our puppets!
Megan Gilmour 49:23
Okay, cool, yes. That’s great. That’s a great call to action. And it leads me to give a big shout out to camp quality, and you can find them over at campquality.org.au [https://www.campquality.org.au] go there, get some resources, book a puppet show, give generously.
Because you’ve heard how important this work is for children with cancer themselves, but also the people in their life that may need support too, that’s family members, and its peers and siblings, it’s friends in the classroom, its teachers, it’s school leadership.
And so, we’ve heard that the flow on effects can be incredible when these things work. So big shout out to Camp Quality, but also my personal thanks to you, Robbie, for saying yes to this and for sharing some insight into your world and the way that you’ve taken your personal skills and your background and your insights to bring it to your work to make such a huge difference to so many kids, because we count the peers and siblings too. You know, kids are in this together, and what we can do for one kid can have a huge effect on all kids.
So, thank you so much for what you do to make our country a better place, our world a better place, and to help some kids who really need champions in their toughest times.
Our greatest thanks to you today Robbie, thank you.
Robbie Greenwell 51:13
Megan, thank you for having me. It was a real, real pleasure to talk to you about what we do,
Megan Gilmour 51:20
Thanks everyone for tuning in. Help us turn up the volume so all kids are seen and heard. Follow along, like, share, comment, or leave us a review, because we love hearing from you. And if you want to donate, head to missingschool.org.au [https://www.missingschool.org.au] because every dollar makes a difference.
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