Brighouse mum with terminal cancer uses books to prepare non-verbal daughter for her death

A mum with terminal cancer has set out to create stories to help her non-verbal autistic daughter prepare for life without her.

Kylie Lang, 42, from Brighouse, West Yorkshire, was told she was unlikely to survive more than five years after being diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019.

After she was given the news, she discovered there were no books or pamphlets to help her explain her heartbreaking situation to her daughter Elsie.

The six-year-old struggles to communicate, so her parents use symbols to better understand the world around her.

Now, with the help of Overgate Hospice and Elsie's special school, Kylie and her husband Dan are making stories using the symbols to explain her mother's cancer journey.

Special widget symbols are used in the stories to help Elsie understand her mum's cancer

Kylie said: "Obviously my cancer is terminal, so there will be a point in life when Elise will lose me. There are so many children out there who are neurodiverse and they don't have the opportunity to be supported in such a disease."

As Kylie's treatment changes, her parents add to the story with the symbols Elsie is already familiar with.

Dan said: "It's reassuring to know that Elsie is being prepared the best that she can be. Hopefully it's years down the line and we don't have to think about the worst that can happen for a long time.

"But to know that there are people there that are helping Elsie, and helping Elise's level of understanding, not only with regard to cancer but illness and stuff as well, and coming to terms with what she's going to have to deal with."

Kylie with husband Dan, daughter Elsie and step-son Irwin

Lisa Mileszkowska, from Overgate Hospice, said: "The thing that [Kylie] said to me was that she didn't want Elsie to think that mum had just left her.

"I was actually trying to source something to help Kylie to talk to Elsie about a condition, and there's just very little out there."

Now the family are looking at ways they can use the stories they have created to help neurodiverse children come to term with life limiting illness.

Family friend Helen Fitzgerald said: "It's hard. So hard for children, but especially children with them additional needs to to understand what's happening and so something in place to just make it a little bit easier, I think. And we really need it. And it's Kylie's goal and I would love her to get that book out."

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