Introduction. The maternal experience of a sense of the child illness is an integral part of the whole situation of illness and it develops in the context of interaction with a doctor and a medical institution. This experience must be taken into account when building an individualized strategy for medical and socio-psychological assistance to such families. Goal is to identify the specifics of the mother’s experiences in the situation of a child’s long-term illness and determine the ways for constructing the psychologically optimal interaction in the “doctor–parent” dyad. Materials and methods. Twelfe mothers in difficult life situations (mothers to a child with a severe disease) were interviewed; they were divided into two subgroups depending on the presence/absence of detailed medical knowledge about the disease and its prognosis. The method of the original clinical-psychological interview was used. Data were analyzed using qualitative methods. Results. The mother’s experience of a sense of the child’s illness consists of medical and psychological components. The psychological component is formed among others through the doctor’s explanations. In the mother’s inner world, it is closely connected with the perception of the disease and the treatment. The results obtained indicate the need to improve communication between mothers and medical personnel, taking into account objective differences in the course of the disease and in how mothers work through it. The results also demonstrate the importance of psychological support, which would facilitate meaning-making processes about the disease among mothers during their children’s hospitalizations. Conclusion. When speaking to mothers of sick children and clarifying the origin of the disease, its course, and prognosis, doctors need to take into account the psychological meaning of these explanations by using their psychotechnical function to support mothers and ensure active cooperation with medical personnel.