https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/understanding-the-psychological-effects-of-childhood-cancer1/

Many forms of childhood cancers have gone from being a death sentence to a curable disease. Thanks to advances in treatments, the overall survival rate for childhood cancers has increased from 10% a few decades ago to nearly 90% today. This means that by the year 2020, an estimated half a million survivors of childhood cancer will be living in the U.S. With more children surviving, though, it has become increasingly clear that cancer and the subsequent treatments, such as chemo or radiation therapy, can have long-term negative effects that extend beyond physical problems such as hair loss, pain, and physical disability. Indeed, similar to “chemo brain” in adults, childhood cancer and its treatment may have harmful effects on brain development, causing problems with attention, memory, and language, and also leading to depression and anxiety. Based on studies using neuroimaging to examine brain structure and function also suggest that the treatments that are needed to save children’s lives can also be harmful to neural development.

However, cancer and its treatment may not be the only damaging factors to consider. Childhood cancer is extremely stressful, for the patient and for the whole family. Stress begins at the time of diagnosis, when families are confronted by the tremendous burden of understanding the disease and medical terms, and facing the possibility of the child’s death at a young age. Family life is disrupted as families struggle with a ‘new normal’ that consists of frequent hospital visits, overwhelming medical bills, and a questionable future. And then there are the stressful and sometimes painful medical procedures. Treatment for childhood cancers is often more intensive than for adult cancers, in part because the disease is more rapidly progressing than adult cancers, but also because children’s bodies can tolerate more than adults can. This means that the side effects of treatment—nausea, fatigue, diarrhea, vomiting, and hair loss—can also be more severe.