A team at Arnold Palmer is helping children understand a cancer diagnosis

ORLANDO, Fla. — A cancer diagnosis is never an easy subject to discuss. It’s especially difficult to explain a cancer diagnosis with children.

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At Arnold Palmer, there is a team of specialists who are here to help families with that conversation.

“It’s complete shock,” Stormy Young, the mom of Kolton Mann, said. “Is this true, am I really hearing this? This flipped our world upside down. Nobody is ever prepared to hear any type of word such as cancer.”

Stormy Young and her family had to explain to her five-year-old son, Kolton Mann, that he was diagnosed with leukemia.

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“We really relied on our doctor, our nurses, our child life specialists, even the front office staff to get us through the day-by-day scenarios,” Young said.

To help get through the conversation, Young relied on child life specialists like Madie Moore.

“My job is to help explain all of the medical jargon to Kolton,” Moore said. “With Kolton we actually did blood slime, so we helped explain leukemia through blood slime.”

With glue, baking soda, and a lot of glitter, it’s simple crafts like making slime that Moore said helps make weekly visits to the hospital less scary for patients like Kolton.

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“It warms my heart when kids walk in and they’re like I get to make slime,” Moore said. “That’s so cool that they’re here, they’re going to get chemo, they’re going to get poked, they’re going to do these things. But how they associate the hospital is they get to make slime.”

Kolton is undergoing his third cycle of chemotherapy. His last bone marrow test came back clear.

His team is looking forward to him getting back on his dirt bike and riding in the boat.

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