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Literature Review. The Impact of Cancer on the Family

The modern medicine is characterized by the high level of the development. The implementation of new technologies and recent scientific findings created ample opportunities to treat effectively diseases which used to be perceived as incurable. In fact, health care professionals have at hand the most sophisticated devices, equipment, medicaments, and technologies that help them save millions of human lives. Nevertheless, regardless such consistent progresses of the modern medicine some diseases still remain a serious challenge for health care professionals. What is even more important, such diseases affect dramatically the life of patients as well as the life of their families. In this respect, cancer is probably one of the most dangerous and destructive diseases. At the same time, this disease and its impact on the life of patients and their families have been profoundly researched and it is possible to estimate that the general trends of such an impact are well-known. This is why it is necessary to carefully analyze the studies focused on this problem in order to reveal the major problems a patient and his/her, for instance, a mother having an Ovarian cancer, may face and their impact on her family.

The impact of cancer on the family lifestyle

First of all, it should be said that such disease as cancer, especially Ovarian cancer, produces a profound impact on the life of a patient and affects the entire family. At the same time, it is necessary to underline that the impact of the disease is multiple and affects various spheres of the family life. To put it more precisely, it affects financial, psychological, social spheres, activity and the lifestyle of the family at large. Basically, specialists (Hausen, 1991, Ehrlich, 2007) underline that cancer has a multiple effects that are not obligatory directly related to the deteriorating physical state of a patient but also often involve financial and psychological aspects of their life as well as the life of their family.

In fact, speaking about the situation of a mother suffering from Ovarian cancer, it is necessary to point out that such a disease affects considerably her family life and the lifestyle she and her family get used to. To put it more precisely, the family faces a serious problem that actually refers to the problem of the survival of one of its members. Naturally, the necessity to struggle with this disease and its effect on the life of the mother as well as the fact of the disease itself lead to the change in the lifestyle of the family because the mother cannot fulfill the functions she traditionally fulfilled in the family. In fact, she can hardly continue the lifestyle she led before the disease because Ovarian cancer limits her physical capabilities substantially and, therefore, does not permit to fully realize herself (Dalmasso, 2005). In this respect, it should be said that the further progress of the disease can deteriorate the state of the patient and practically deprive her of an opportunity to lead a normal family life (Goff, 2004). At the same time, the entire family is focused on the saving of the life of its ill member and, consequently, its members change their lifestyle making taking care of the mother one of their major priority.