Most young teenagers spend their days thinking about boyfriends and girlfriends.  Some teenagers, however, spend their days thinking about life and death.

For children whose parents have cancer, sorting out emotions can be difficult.  One teen took matters into his own hands after his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Jon Wagner Holtz, then 13, founded what started out as a hotline for children of cancer patients and has evolved into Kids Konnected: a support group for children and teens coping with the reality of cancer.

Based in Orange County, Kids Konnected meets twice monthly in an area hospital.  The group, however, sponsors over 20 other organizations that have helped 10,000 children in eight states.  "The idea is for them not to feel alone," says Lynette Wilhardt, a licensed clinical social worker who directs the Orange County program.

Kids Konnected serves children as young as four, but also has a separate group for teens.  This group has compiled a book that they are selling online.  The book started when Wilhardt encouraged the teens to write; sometimes documenting emotions in confidence is easier than discussing them.  The idea took off and after sharing their writing, the group found a donor to sponsor publication of their work.  The result is "Love Sick," a 50-page compilation of poems, stories, essays and art.

Sarah Selski, whose father died of pancreatic cancer when she was 16, describes the moments after a fateful call from his doctor that his passing was imminent.  "We headed to the hospital as fast as we could . . . " she relates. "I was scared, and I knew deep down I had to tell him the one thing I did not want to say. I sat in the hospital room, holding my dad's hand and told him that I loved him forever and that I would be OK if he was ready to die."

Profits from the book will help support the group's work.  It is available for $15.95 at KidsKonnected.org.  To read more about what the group does, click here.