Please note that all event times are in Central Time.
Event Type: Virtual (Zoom Session)
Who Can Attend: This free educational webinar is well suited for parents, caregivers, friends, family, school professionals; anyone who wants to hear how kids and teens are impacted by their parent’s cancer or loss of a parent from cancer.
Cost: Free
Join us for a youth-led panel discussion with Pickles kids and teens to hear first-hand what it’s like to have a parent with cancer or have lost a parent to cancer, what they’ve learned from becoming a Pickles kid, and how they navigate the sweet and sour moments they face.
When you register for this webinar, you'll also receive a free digital copy of our Pickles Family Cancer Support Kit, and a recording of the webinar to watch on your own time.
Panel Moderator:
Kelsey Mora, LCPC, CCLS
Chief Clinical Officer, Pickles Group
Kelsey is a Certified Child Life Specialist and Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who specializes in supporting children and families impacted by medical illness, injury, and grief. She has extensive experience providing individual and group services to children who have a parent with cancer. Kelsey both guides parents and caregivers on how to best support their children and teens as well as creates unique opportunities to help youth make connections, and increase coping and communication throughout a cancer experience.
Kelsey has a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in child and adolescence from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Minnesota in Child Psychology and Spanish Studies. Kelsey worked for nearly a decade at Advocate Aurora Health, where she provided hospital-based care to patients and co-led bereavement program implementation for an entire healthcare system. Kelsey is a Registered Wonders and Worries Provider and provides professional and consultative services in private practice. Kelsey is the author of The Dot Method: an interactive tool to teach kids about cancer.
Panel Members:
Francesca Hlavacek
Francesca is a high school senior, has a younger brother, and is a Founding Member of Pickles Group — she’s been part of the Pickles Community since our inception, and mentors and supports new Pickles Kids as a Pickles Group Peer Leader. In 2017, her mom, Erika, was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and just two years later, in 2019, her dad, Jeff, was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. Francesca’s mom passed away in 2022.
Maddie McGuire
Maddie is a high school senior, she’s been part of the Pickles Community since just after our inception, and mentors and supports new Pickles Kids as a Pickles Group Peer Leader. Her mom, Julia, was first diagnosed with MDS when she was 6 and then with breast cancer when she was 13. She plays travel ice hockey, is starting the college application process, and she hopes to study engineering.
Molly Agnew
Molly is a high school junior, the oldest of four siblings and is a Founding Member of Pickles Group — she’s been part of the Pickles Community since our inception, and mentors and supports new Pickles Kids as a Pickles Group Peer Leader. Her dad, Mark, was diagnosed with stage II brain cancer when she was in fourth grade, and now after chemo and surgery, he is stable.
Patrick Brennan
Patrick is a high school sophomore and the oldest of 5 siblings. He became a part of the Pickles Community in 2024 and mentors and supports new Pickles Kids as a Pickles Group Peer Leader. His dad, Patrick, died from colon cancer in 2024. Patrick is a member of his high school’s Media and Investment Clubs.
Registration:
Please register to
1) receive your free digital copy of our Pickles Family Support Kit
2) receive the webinar Zoom Link
3) submit your questions in advance. Questions must be submitted by noon CT the day before the webinar to ensure we have time to address the group’s priority concerns.