How an Online Community Can Help Fight Cancer
Posted January 16th, 2007 by Scott
This past weekend I was reading a post on the ScienceRoll blog entitled “Fighting cancer with video games.” I found this to be an unbelievable method for educating young cancer patients and for giving them the strength needed to help battle the diseases themselves. If children understand what their bodies need to do in order for the chemotherapy and other treatments to work effectively, they might be able to help build stronger immune systems by giving themselves the “I can do it” mentality.
HopeLab is a non-profit organization and creator of the game Re-Mission. HopeLab not only educates children on their illness through video games, it also utilizes the power of online community discussions to help young cancer patients talk about what they are going through during their treatments. One of the topics they invite patients to contribute to is “What was your Weirdest Treatment Side Effect?”
Bringing cancer patients together, young and old, helps educate them on what others suffering from the illness are going through on a daily basis. See what the Washington Post says about the effects the community has had on young cancer patients between the ages of 13 to 29. By providing multiple outlets for discussion like the video game, patient testimonials, and provided topics, HopeLab is engaging patients to participate, which in turn encourages the community to grow. I am confident that we will see online communities become a prominent means of disease and illness education in the future. What do you think?
