Mom teaches parents how to cook for kids with cancer

Video: Mom teaches how to cook for cancer-stricken kids

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   >> reporter: she is a true saint. she says the majority of the cats are adoptable. the ones that may not be will stay at the refuge forever, safe, warm and very loved.

   >> an amazing woman.

   >> she has wonderful volunteers she called her poop fairies.

   >> self-explanatory.

   >>> and apps that help erase all traces of your ex.

   >> i'm sticking around for that.

   >> first, this is "today" on nbc.

   >>> good morning, matt. daniel cook started as a volunteer at georgetown university hospital . but her unique program is having so much success, doctors say every hospital should have their own danielle . the secret to her popularity, food.

   >> reporter: at first glance, it's hard to imagine these children are sick.

   >> it's good!

   >> reporter: but each and every one is battling cancer.

   >> you want to stir?

   >> reporter: a diagnosis no parent wants to hear.

   >> the soup is almost ready.

   >> reporter: she knows from personal experience.

   >> it was a nightmare.

   >> reporter: a decade ago she learned her son, fabian, had stage three hodgkin's lymphoma.

   >> any parent whose child has to go through this, a parent would willi willingly happily trade places and do this for them but you can't.

   >> reporter: he faced surgery, chemotherapy and radiation which devastated his body.

   >> it feels like getting hit by a bus and finally standing up and when you stand up you get hit by train.

   >> reporter: keeping up his strength was battle, advice from the hospital as many calories as possible any way you can.

   >> they said let him eat mcdonald's, junk food .

   >> they said he needs the calories. if that means french fries and fast-foods, do it.

   >> you said?

   >> i said, well, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

   >> instead, danielle focused her efforts on something she could do. cook.

   >> first, you take a chicken, really where oo start it.

   >> it really is. i went back to good homemade chicken broth .

   >> it worked.

   >> it works, it did.

   >> chicken soup was just the start. danielle went back to school, got a masters in nutrition and started to experiment with ingredients and recipes. along the way, wonderful news. fabian finished his treatment.

   >> no offense to anybody in this room but she is the best mother in the world.

   >> while most people would be happy to move on, danielle decided she had to give back, which meant going back. so armed with groceries, she returned to georgetown university hospital , where her son had been treated and volunteered in the pediatric oncology clinic.

   >> you guys having fun today?

   >> ever since, she's been teaching parents about nutrition and how to cook foods that will help with treatment and recovery. including some recipes they never imagined their kids would ea eat.

   >> i can give them love and food. that was really important. when he liked the food, that was even better.

   >> being really tasty and really yummy.

   >> should every oncology program have a danielle ? absolutel absolutely.

   >> dr. shad is chief of oncology.

   >> i truly believe cancer you cannot take care of in isolation. it's critical for them to eat right.

   >> the pasta sauce --

   >> the pesto? yes.

   >> danielle wanted to do even more. what about all the other cancer patients out there? with the help of georgetown hospital , she just published this book, happily hungry, filled with recipes and chapters to guide patients through all the stages of cancer treatment.

   >> perfect.

   >> that's good.

   >> so good.

   >> starring none other than the children she's cooked with at the hospital. devon, simone, aden. if you look carefully at the cover of the book, you might just recognize 6-year-old peter.

   >> these are good.

   >> you made a delicious drink.

   >> for their parents, it's been a godsend.

   >> it made me feel like a better mom. it made me feel like i could take care of my son the way he needed.

   >> danielle , what is the most important thing you feel you're doing there?

   >> food has an amazing healing quality to it. it allows the parent to really feel like, i can do this. i can help heal my child.

   >> the need for good nutrition with cancer treatment, matt, it's just common sense , but sometimes it takes a mother to put together a program like this. now, they hope it will spread to hospitals across the country, and the great part is those recipes, they're good for all patients, really good for all people, not just children.

   >> no. it should spread to hospitals across the country, jamie. thank you. we appreciate it.

   >>> you can find a few of those recipes and in

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