In early 2018, Ruth Strauss, the late wife of Sir Andrew Strauss, the former England cricket captain, was diagnosed with an incurable lung cancer that affects non-smokers. Ruth died on 29 December 2018; she was 46 years old and mother to two children, then aged 10 and 13.
In her memory, Sir Andrew has launched The Ruth Strauss Foundation to:
- Provide emotional support for families to prepare for the death of a parent
- Raise awareness of the need for more research & collaboration in the fight against non-smoking lung cancers.
The Ruth Strauss Family Support Service
- We offer one to one virtual appointments with parents and care givers to help start, and continue, open and honest conversations with their children about their condition.
- Our support is tailored as each family has different needs and would approach similar situations very differently.
- Our experienced practitioners will consider your child’s age, developmental stage, family setup and, and most importantly, how you are all currently coping as a family, living with an incurable diagnosis.
- Our team will provide emotional support, guidance and resources to parents and primary care givers to help them through this difficult time.
- You can order free resources to support your family here.
- We facilitate peer support groups for teenagers, offering them the opportunity to meet with other teens who are also facing the death of a parent to cancer.
- We run peer support groups for parents/co-parents, whose partner has incurable cancer, which gives them the opportunity to talk to someone who is in a similar situation.
Website: https://ruthstraussfoundation.com/