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The Silent Hum Foundation
Our Articles


Navigating Childhood Cancer: A Parent's Journey
The sterile language of hospitals can feel isolating. This guide helps New Zealand parents decode medical jargon, ask the right questions, and find their voice, ensuring they are an active part of their child's care team.
Augustus Greenslade
Oct 84 min read


Navigating the Journey Through Childhood Cancer
When the word cancer enters your family’s life, it feels like the ground beneath you shifts. The journey through childhood cancer is not a straight path. It twists and turns, sometimes smooth, often rocky.
Augustus Greenslade
Oct 74 min read


The Triage of Grief: On Loving the Child You Lost While Fighting for the One You Have
How do you grieve a child you've lost while fighting for a child in crisis? A father's raw reflection on the impossible triage of grief - learning to hold loss and hope simultaneously while supporting whānau through unimaginable challenges.
Augustus Greenslade
Oct 64 min read


Navigating Grief: Finding Comfort in Silence
Understand how well-intentioned words can unintentionally cause pain during crisis. Learn what to say and what to avoid when supporting whānau through childhood illness in New Zealand.
Augustus Greenslade
Oct 44 min read


The Most Useless, Kindest Sentence in the World
The messages glow on the screen: “Let me know if you need anything.” It is a generous, heartfelt, and profoundly useless offer. In the landscape of crisis, the person you are offering to help is the least capable person in the world of telling you how. Grief and fear are thieves, and their greatest heist is executive function. Asking them to project-manage their own rescue is an impossible task. So, what is the language of real help?
Augustus Greenslade
Oct 33 min read


Uncovering the Most Inspiring Cancer Blogs
When the world shifts beneath your feet, and the path ahead is shadowed by uncertainty, finding a steady light can feel impossible. I...
Augustus Greenslade
Oct 14 min read


Field Notes: The Question That Stops the Fight Before It Starts
Late-night tensions are common for Kiwi couples in crisis. We often offer the support we want, not what our partner needs. This post shares a simple question that acts as a translator, preventing arguments and ensuring you provide the right kind of support for your whānau.
Augustus Greenslade
Oct 13 min read


Your Playbook for the Second Battlefront
Feeling lost in the storm of a family crisis? This is your anchor. A practical guide with tools and scripts to help you advocate for your child and find steady ground.
Augustus Greenslade
Oct 13 min read


How to Offer Real Support in a Crisis (And What to Say Instead of 'Let Me Know')
The messages arrive like small, glowing birds on the screen of a phone you don’t have the energy to lift. They all say a version of the same sentence... "Let me know if you need anything." It is a well-intentioned, generous, and utterly useless offer. In the landscape of crisis—whether it’s the sterile, beeping world of a hospital ward or the heavy silence of a grieving home—a person’s capacity is the first casualty.
Augustus Greenslade
Sep 303 min read


How the Scars of the Past Forged the Father I Am Today
n this raw and powerful blog post, a father confronts his son's childhood cancer diagnosis—a battle that echoes his own past trauma. Grappling with profound grief after a stillbirth, "The Silent Hum of What If" is an unflinching guide to fierce advocacy, resilience, and the work of staying present when the ground shifts beneath your feet.
Augustus Greenslade
Sep 302 min read


Why Grief Literacy Matters for Families
Grief literacy is not theory. It’s how families, children, and communities learn to carry loss together with clarity, honesty, and presence.
Augustus Greenslade
Sep 253 min read


Parenting Through Uncertainty and Loss: Navigating Parenting and Grief
Parenting on Unsteady Ground Parenthood often begins with hope: ultrasound photos stuck to the fridge, tiny socks waiting in a drawer,...
Augustus Greenslade
Sep 233 min read


Between Two Rooms: Fatherhood, Grief, and the Silent Hum
I live between two rooms. One is fluorescent and busy. Nurses murmur. Pumps count time with a red pulse. My son sleeps, a line taped to...
Augustus Greenslade
Sep 203 min read


Navigating the Silent Struggles of Siblings of Childhood Cancer Patients
How to Support a Glass Sibling whos sibling is undergoing medical treatment
Augustus Greenslade
Sep 193 min read


Why My Son with Childhood Cancer Became Rah Rah: Honouring a Child’s Survival Language
When our son Finley was diagnosed with Wilms tumour, he chose a new name — Rah Rah. In the middle of childhood cancer treatment, this became his way of coping and holding on to his spirit. This is the story of how children create survival strategies, and how as parents we can honour their resilience.
Augustus Greenslade
Sep 182 min read
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