Recreation Essential for Young Cancer Patients

Activities Like Ski Trips, Camps Important to Recovery

There's no snow job here. Pediatric cancer patients from the Children's Cancer Hospital at M. D. Anderson have learned to conquer the mountains by skiing. In the process they realize they also can get past the obstacles placed in their way by cancer.

Norman Jaffe, M.D., a pediatric oncologist/hematologist at the Children's Cancer Hospital, originated the annual trip in 1982. Astounded to hear that his patient, Ted Kennedy Jr., planned to learn to ski, Jaffe watched as he did just that.

With young Ted as an example, Jaffe has found that learning - or relearning - to ski with an amputation or other physical disability fills young patients with self-confidence. "I discovered that skiing proves to them that they can do most anything they set their mind to," Jaffe says.

Recreational camps, trips and activities for kids with cancer are a big part of a young patient's rehabilitation and recovery.

M. D. Anderson is one of many cancer centers offering such fun and restorative programs. Numerous camps that are physically outfitted and medically equipped for children with cancer are also scattered throughout the country. (See below.)

Taking part in the programs does a great deal for each child. The people involved in M. D. Anderson's annual ski trip explain why.

Ski trip good example of how rehabilitation works

"The ski trip is a cornerstone of our rehabilitation efforts," says Hallie Zeitz, who has coordinated the trip for 24 of its 25 years. "It's definitely a turning point for many of the children and the change in their attitude and self-confidence becomes evident over the course of the trip. We often have participants who never talk or interact begin playing cards and laughing and talking with the group. The rehab effect is wonderful, but the psychosocial benefits are astounding."

Mark Kelly, a Houston attorney who is an amputee and former pediatric patient, has been along for the swish down the slopes from the beginning. Though he is long past the age of a pediatric patient, Kelly serves as an example of hope to the young patients who head for the mountains. Kelly confirms, "Skiing gives you confidence to realize you can do the same stuff everyone else can do. Amputation is a hardship, but it can be overcome. I always have a blast on this trip and it proves you can get through cancer and have a good life."

During the trip, Children's Cancer Hospital patients with physical challenges ranging from paraplegia and hemiplegia to blindness and amputation are accompanied by physicians, nurses, child life specialists, family members and volunteers. Together, they enjoy skiing, snowball fights, snowmobiling and fellowship off the slopes.

Patients learn they can do more than they thought

This year, 14 young skiers will make the trip. Once they arrive at the Park City Mountain Resort in Utah, they will head to the National Ability Center to be fitted for skis - 3-track, 4-track, mono-ski or bi-ski. Skiers with vision impairment are teamed with instructors specially trained to guide blind skiers. The center's alpine skiing and snowboarding program works in cooperation with the professional ski school staff of the Park City Mountain Resort. All M. D. Anderson skiers will have lessons on the slopes of the ski resort, automatically "mainstreaming" them into an integrated environment with their families, friends and peers.

In addition to skiing, the group will visit the National Ability Center Ranch to take turns on the climbing wall, play games, have a snowball fight and enjoy a closing campfire.

Defying public perception, skiers take on the slopes

Joining the ski group again is high school senior Shelby Robin, who has a below-the-knee amputation. Shelby has never let anything slow her down, including her amputation. From cheerleading to skiing the black runs, she's ready to go.

"It makes me happy that I can defy what most people expect from amputees," she says. "I'm not a stay-at-home kind of girl."

Many others who have faced their disabilities on the mountain have similar things to say. One instructor working with a patient now blind from his brain tumor called her charge "a fighter - when he falls down he gets right back up."

For information about recreational pediatric cancer programs around the country, parents can talk to their child's treatment center staff. Parents also can review online listings of similar programs such as pediatric cancer camps through groups like the Association of Cancer Online Resourcesand Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation.