If you've been told that your child has cancer, the last thing on your mind is whether you'll have a job by the time your child achieves remission. Your primary concern is your child.

But the reality is that many families in this situation will lose at least one major source of income. In addition to this financial strain, the constant stress of cancer treatment can also have an impact on healthy siblings.Pauline Grady of Walnutport lost her full-time job while her son was being treated for leukemia. The family eventually filed for bankruptcy."It's a huge financial strain, and that's an understatement," she said. "I lost my job within a month. It's very common. Usually one of the parents, often the mother, loses the job. You end up not being able to maintain a full-time, regular job and take care of the child. They're constantly in and out of the hospital, and constantly in and out of appointments."Grady didn't quit her job, but was asked to leave. Her husband Rich had no options."He had to go to work, thinking of his wife and kids. He had to work. It was a balancing act," she said.Nearly four years later, Sam has finally completed his treatment for leukemia. Grady recently started a new job with the Pediatric Cancer Foundation of the Lehigh Valley."It's good for me, and good for the new families that we see. We all try to help and support each other. It's interesting, when something comes so full-circle," she said.Sam's older brother Eli was four when his 2-year-old brother was diagnosed. He grew up quickly, mirroring his mother's protective instincts and paying close attention to the process."I always say that he is a 90-year-old man trapped in an 8-year-old body. He knows terminology that he shouldn't have to know. He's become like a mother," said Grady.When Sam had trouble walking due to chemotherapy and would call out for help from his bedroom, Eli would often be there more quickly than their parents. He also began treating his brother with kid gloves, and was afraid to hurt him physically or with words."He just became a bag of fear, that he would never see his brother again, and that I would disappear too," said Grady.It became difficult to balance the very different needs of her two sons. Eli would want to know why he had to go to school when Sam was staying home most days from preschool."I couldn't be at a soccer game or school function, because Sam was sick and I had to be with Sam," she said, noting that Sam was sick on Eli's birthday throughout his treatment."Every year, every single year, Sam would get a fever during Eli's birthday party. And anytime Sam got a fever, he would have to go to the hospital. That was really difficult for me, to explain to Eli that I had to leave his party, Mommy would have to go to the hospital," she said. "This year, he said to Sam, 'I hope you don't ruin my birthday this year.' That broke my heart."But Grady also took that as a good sign: Eli was starting to worry less about Sam's health and more about his own interests, as any normal 8-year-old boy would."That was pretty big for him to say that. During treatment, he never ever wanted to hurt Sam. They're boys. They should want to wrestle each other to the ground. But even with words, he would never say anything mean to him," she said. "Now they beat the crap out of each other. But they're both healthy. It drives me nuts, but I'd rather see that than Eli fearing that he'd damage his brother in some way."When Lora and Dave Krum's oldest son Dylan was diagnosed with cancer in 2010 at age 14, his mother stayed at the hospital most days and nights."Sometimes we would switch and Dave would spend a night, and I could spend some time with Gavin at home. The entire experience was very grueling for all three of us," she said."Gavin was 12 years old when all of this happened. He was just as shocked and confused by everything as Dave and I were," she said, noting that Gavin was often uncomfortable by the attention he was receiving at school."It made it very tough for him to feel like anything was 'normal' for him," said Krum. "On top of that, there was nothing normal about his home life. We were never able to all be at home together. And when one of us was home with him, we were so exhausted and preoccupied with catching up on getting bills mailed, doing laundry, trying to send out email updates of Dylan's condition, and wishing we could wake up from this nightmare."Lora was a high school music teacher when Dylan was diagnosed, but the diagnosis and treatment occurred over summer break. She took a sabbatical after Dylan passed away from complications.When Gavin was also diagnosed with cancer in 2012, now 12 years old, the word "cancer" wasn't a scary unknown. He had seen his brother lose his fight against cancer. While the brothers faced different types of cancer and survival rates, it was hard for Gavin to submit to treatment. "When Gavin was diagnosed two years later, there were a lot of similar fears, thoughts and concerns," she said. "His response to actually starting his first chemo was probably the worst thing I thought I'd ever have to go through with him. He was a mess and almost refusing to have it done. He was extremely afraid to start the whole process."He had seen the absolute worst case scenario and there was no way to hide the reality of how serious his own condition was. We shared many tears and sleepless nights in the hospital, trying to process everything, being haunted by questions like 'How can this be happening?' and doing our very best to say as positive and courageous as possible."Gavin lost his fight as well, succumbing to complications just two months after his diagnosis.