Can I catch it?
I'm worried I might catch an illness
Most young people who look after someone have had worries that the problem that their family member has might happen to them one day. Usually this is not possible – to find out for sure, you could:
- Ask the person with the problem. They might not want to talk about it in case they upset you, but you could tell them how it feels not knowing.
- Talk to the adults who look after the person with the problem – for example, doctors can tell you which illnesses you can catch and which ones you can’t
- Ask a youth worker or connexions worker to help you find out the information you want
- Ring NHS Direct (NHS 24 in Scotland) or Childline – they can give you confidential information about illnesses, disabilities and health conditions
- Remember: no one can catch
- Any addiction to alcohol or drugs
- Any mental health problem
- Disabilities like Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis
- Strokes, heart problems or diabetes
- Cancers, tumours or leukaemia
Some health problems are said to “run in families” or be “passed on” from parents to children. Usually, this just means that people who have parents or lots of family members with a problem might be a little more likely to get the problem themselves. This is because we are made of little building blocks called “genes” and we have many of the same genes as our parents. But we are not exactly the same as our parents, so there are very few health problems that always happen to a person if they have a parent who has the problem. For example, if lots of people in your family have cancer, you can still make yourself much less likely to get it by eating healthily and not smoking.
