Word meanings

A - C

Advanced cancer

Cancer that is unlikely to be cured so the person will die.
Bereaved

When someone you love dies, you are “bereaved”.
Bereavement

The time it takes for somebody to grieve (which is different for everybody).
Burial

The dead person is put in a coffin and buried underground in the soil.
Cancer tumour

A growth or lump, which is made up of cancer cells.
Chemotherapy

Special medicines to help a person with cancer.
Carer

A family member or close friend who looks after a sick person and makes sure they have everything they need.
Cemetery

A place where the coffin is buried in the ground.
Coffin

A wooden box with a lid that the dead person is put in.
Cremation

The dead person is put in a coffin and turned into powdery ash using heat. People can either keep the ashes, or scatter them in a place special to the person who has died.

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D - H

Diagnosis

Knowing the type of sickness or disease a person has.
Drowsy

Means a person is feeling sleepy.
Dead

When a person stops breathing, their heart stops beating and they are no longer living. They cannot feel, see, hear or come back alive.
Dying

When a person’s body begins to not work properly meaning they will not live.
End of life care

The care given by the palliative care team where a person is very close to death.
Fatigue

Feeling very very tired even when you have woken up from a big sleep.
Funeral

A special time for family and friends to get together to celebrate the life of a loved one.
Grave

The hole in the soil where the coffin goes when someone is buried.
Grief

Grief is your own mixture of feelings and thoughts that you experience when someone you love is dying or dies.
Hospice

A place that helps people who have an illness that will not get better. People can go in for a short time to help with their sickness or to give their families a break. Some people choose to die there.

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I - O

IV drip or drip

A tiny tube that a doctor or nurse will put into a person’s arm or hand so medicines can get inside that person’s body quickly.
Life limiting illness

An illness that is unlikely to be cured and meaning the person to die at some stage. A person may live with a life limiting illness for weeks, months or years.
Loss

Being without something that you love.
Morphine

Very strong medicines to take away any pain a person is feeling.
Mourning

Mourning is the way you show your grief.
Metastasis

Metastasis means the cancer has spread from one part of the body to another part of the body (also called ‘secondary cancer’).
Oncology

Oncology means cancer. Oncologist = cancer doctor, Oncology Ward = hospital word for people with cancer.

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P - U

Painkiller

Medicines that doctors and nurses give people to take away any feelings of pain.
Palliative care

The special kind of care given to people who have an illness that can’t be cured.
Palliative care team

A team people who look after people who have life limiting illness.
Post mortem

A doctor looks at the dead body to work out how they died.
Pre-bereavement

The time before a loved one has died and people are feeling grief.
Prognosis

Information given by doctors about what is going to happen to a person with an illness.
Relapse

Relapse means the cancer has come back in the person’s body.
Respite care

The care given by nurses so families caring for a sick person can have a short break. It can be given in a hospital, hospice or at home.
Symptoms

Signs of an illness, like pain, or feeling sick.
Terminal

When a person who has cancer that cannot be treated and their body begins to stop working which means they will die.
Urn

A pot the ashes are kept in after someone has been cremated.

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Advanced cancer