Relaxation For Moms Of Sick Kids

Anyone who's taken care of a sick relative knows that as a caregiver, you must also take care of yourself. But that can be especially tough if you're a mom, and the sick relative is your child.

Once a year, mothers of chronically ill children are treated to a day of indulgance thanks to Chai Lifeline, a Jewish organization dedicated to helping the families of sick children.

At Santa Monica's Aqua Day Spa, The Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman talked to a few of the mothers being pampered.

"My son was diagnosed with bone cancer when he was six years old," one mother says.

Another one notes, "Until he was 2-and-a-half, he was the perfect happiest little boy, then we discovered he had a brain malformation."

And another says, "My son was diagnosed with a kind of pediatric cancer called neuro blastoma."

Chai Lifeline's West Coast director Randi Grossman says, "Some of our moms have children who were born with their disease, and so it has been something that they have been dealing with since their child was born. They never have a day off. We have moms who have never had a manicure or massage."

Leslie Pettis, whose son has Hodgkins Lymphoma, says at the spa she feels she's not alone.

"Not only are you pampered," she says, "People who really understand what you've been thru, are sitting around relaxing and being together."

Laini Sugerman, whose son recovered from cancer says, "It makes a big difference because you've had this time to re-energize and re-group and be with other people."

Chai Lifeline has a range of services, from getting tutors, to help hospitalized children, to doing special things for siblings of sick kids, who often feel left out.

For more information about Chai Lifeline visit their Web site.