In September 2012, when she was 21, Caitlin received news every child dreads: her father had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had been given three months to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defying the odds, her father\u2019s cancer initially went into remission after surgery. It came back three years later, and Caitlin moved home to help with his care. \u201cOften,\u201d she says, \u201cyou\u2019re so focused on your loved one that you don\u2019t think about how it\u2019s impacting you. His health became our number one priority. At the time, I was in survival mode myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The experience taught Caitlin the importance of accepting help as a caregiver. \u201cThe best way to care for the person you love is to make sure you\u2019re getting the care you need.\u201d Driven by the desire to help people going through the same challenges, she got involved with advocacy group PanCAN following her father\u2019s passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy dad always said three things make a good day,\u201d Caitlin says. \u201cHelp someone, learn something new and get one thing done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In September 2012, when she was 21, Caitlin received news every child dreads: her father had been diagnosed with pancreatic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":3539,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oncology","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n