Table 2.

Representative Participant Quotations

Theme Sub-Theme	Endorsement Total n (%) Male n (%) Female n (%)	Quotation
Practical support	25 (96.2%) 10 (100.0%) 15 (93.8%)
Managing medical care	13 (50.0%) 5 (50.0%) 8 (50.0%)	…anything that the doctors did, ‘Oh, what’s the name of that drug, what’s the name of this drug?’ [My mom] wrote everything down. (18 year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 14) We had seen some kids in the hospital who had amputations and prosthesis, …So my dad researched a couple different places, but I went to go see the place…[and] I decided even before I had my amputation to [get a prosthesis]. (19-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 16)
Encouraging healthy behavior	13 (50.0%) 6 (60.0%) 7 (43.8%)	[My friends] are always on top of me about like putting sunscreen on my scar so that it doesn’t burn. They’re just like, ‘Make sure you put sunscreen on your scar.’ (19-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at age 17) …[my mom] told me to eat more tomatoes and fruits and things like that, and like organic foods. (17-year-old bi-racial man diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 14) I kind of gave up on a lot of stuff and then my friends were like, ‘What are you doing right now?”’ So they made me go [to a therapist]. (21-year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 17)
Tasks of daily living	12 (46.2%) 5 (50.0%) 7 (43.8%)	…my parents got, you know, like an intercom-yeah, they got an intercom…so if I needed anything to press it, and we’d talk through the house…I mean of course they were always attentive and always there. I mean, why wouldn’t they be? I remember I came out of the bath one time and I fainted, so like why wouldn’t my mom always be around me, taking care of me? That’s what she’s supposed to do when I’m sick. But, you know, it was just hard not having your strength and not being able to just be with yourself, you know, be alone with yourself. (19-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 16) I was just sort of…figuring things out on my own…And then- and then that…brick wall just said, ‘No, you do need [your parents]. Get back to bed. They’re going to do everything for you.’ (24 year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 16)
Navigating school	4 (15.4%) 2 (20.0%) 2 (12.5%)	I was walking with crutches when I went back to school. It was still pretty painful, because, you know, the amputation was still not perfectly healed, just because chemo prevented it from getting completely healed. So, yeah, I went back to school with my crutches and my prosthesis. And, you know, some kids would help me get around, they would carry my bag for me and take the elevator with me. (19-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 16)
Emotional support	26 (100.0%) 10 (100.0%) 16 (100.0%)
Spending time together	21 (80.8%) 9 (90.0%) 12 (75.0%)	[Friend 1] doesn’t live in [state], but she came in to see me a couple times. And they were both there the day of my amputation, you know, and came in afterwards and…They were in the waiting room and [Friend 2] was just bawling, she just wanted to see me to make sure I was okay, and- she’s a really, really good friend and I’m really lucky to have her as a friend. (19-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 16) [My brother] and his girlfriend were always hanging out with me through everything…both of them were always there playing board games with me, cards with me, video games with me, anything to keep me busy and take me out…they were just always there for me. They would watch like three movies a day with me, just to stay with me, and go to the pool, anything they could possibly do to stay with me and keep me busy and keep my mind off everything that was going on. (17-year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with Hodgkins’ lymphoma at age 14) My dad doesn’t show emotions. And he actually [stayed] with me…and laid in the bed with me, and that was the first time I’d ever seen him pray. And we fell asleep on the bed, and that was my greatest memory because me and my dad never, ever shared a moment like that. So it was- it was pretty awesome, you know. It touched me. And that memory will forever be with me…it showed me that he actually loved me and cared for me, and so that like- that stuck with me for life. (18-year-old Hispanic female diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 15)
Coping	22 (84.6%) 8 (80.0%) 14 (87.5%)	[My friend] would call, but if I didn’t want to talk she’d say, ‘Okay talk to you later.’ And as soon as I came back [to school] she was there. She didn’t ask any questions…She was like, ‘If you want to talk about it you tell me.’ I did because she’s my best friend…But she was like ‘I’m there when you want me to be there,’ so her and I have been really close and we’ve been extremely close since…she’s just been there whenever I needed her. (17-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 14) I remember like one time specifically, [my mom]…like grabbed my face and she was like, like she was like an inch away from my case and she was like- like, ‘You’re gonna be fine,’ like, ‘Trust me.’…And like we’d just talk about like everything. (19-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at age 17) …it’s not that [my dad] would stay away, but he’d stay, you know, a little more quiet. He would let me be. Like if I wanted to be alone or he’d just let me do my own thing, didn’t try to butt in. (17-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 14)
Nice gestures	12 (46.2%) 5 (50.0%) 7 (43.8%)	I thought it was great. I just felt like everyone really supported me. Apparently, they told me that like, ‘We didn’t order enough shirts’…I didn’t realize I was that popular. (19-year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with a germ cell tumor at age 17)
Supporting survivors’ choices	8 (30.8%) 3 (30.0%) 5 (31.3%)	…if I’m not with anybody within the next two years or so…I have talked to my mom about it. I have talked to other people about it, and they all agree that I should do it. I mean, maybe artificial insemination. I do want to have a child. (24-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 17) [My dad]’s like, ‘Get a job. Get out there and do your thing.’ Yeah, so now it’s like, you know, we’re at that point where- where them taking care of me and me needing them is- is fading in a big way. (24 year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 16)
Helping survivor maintain a sense of consistency	6 (23.1%) 2 (20.0%) 4 (25.0%)	…my friends never really changed. They were always cool. They always maintained who I was, which was good. (24 year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 16) I mean, my sister pretty much didn’t change about anything. Her attitude towards me when I was diagnosed was still the same, which I was really happy about because I didn’t want anyone seeing me any different. (19-year-old Asian female diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 15)
New sense of closeness and appreciation	18 (69.2%) 6 (60.0%) 12 (75.0%)	I definitely feel much more connected to [my mom], which I definitely think is a product of having spent pretty much an entire, you know, half a year to a year of my life just with her. (24-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 14) I just feel like I’m more close with everyone, especially my best friend. I guess that was the point when I realized that she was my best friend was when she- she called me every day when I was in the hospital. (19-year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with a germ cell tumor at age 17)
Absence during treatment*	6 (23.1%) 0 (00.0%) 6 (37.5%)	…I lost every single friend I had. That was probably the hardest…I mean, yeah, I didn’t have a whole lot of friends to begin with. I was really shy…And so now looking back…I can sort of understand why, like one more thing onto the pile. Well, you know, like adding something on, like having a friend who’s like seriously ill, people can’t handle that. And I mean I really, honestly don’t begrudge anybody at this point. (24-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 14) …a lot of them were 17, and, you know, a lot of them, I didn’t really want them to see me like that…it would have been nice for them to just come anyway, you know, just be there anyway…I really didn’t think of it until afterwards, and I was just like, you know, ‘Wow, where was everybody?’ (24-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 17)
Lack of understanding about change in appearance	3 (11.5%) 1 (10.0%) 2 (12.5%)	People would say, ‘Oh, you look like a zombie.’ (23-year-old Black female diagnosed with craniopharyngioma at age 16) …the day I came in after- I was gone for a while, and I came back with no hair and a couple of kids in my class thought it was a joke or something, so they were laughing about it…I didn’t care. Like, I was kind of used to being made fun of sometimes when I was younger so I was like okay with that and they figured it out. (21-year-old Caucasian male diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 17) I mean, to be honest, I grew up in a house where my dad told me I was worthless. He told me that I was ugly, that I was fat, when I was on treatment. (24-year-old Caucasian female diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 14) ...he’s a health freak. So he was constantly pushing me, you know, exercise more or eat less. So it came to a point where in my mind I was like, ‘Oh, I’m fat. I can’t eat. I can’t eat.’ (18-year-old Hispanic female diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 15)

^*Females were significantly more likely than males to endorse this theme (χ² [1, N = 26] = 4.9, p = .04).