The Internet often provides families like the Leach's unfiltered health information and access to specialists. It also has increasingly become the place where people connect with others who share similar diagnoses, through blogging, Facebook and other social media.

"Twenty to 30 years ago when we didn't have the Internet our parents probably had to go to the library," said Jae Eun Chung, an assistant professor at Kent State University who researches health communication in new media. "Now we are just one click away from medical information."

A study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that one in five Americans uses the Internet to find people with similar health concerns. For people with chronic illnesses, it's one in four.

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