Having a chronic condition can be a scary thing, especially for a child. For a parent, hearing such a diagnosis can be devastating.
Words like childhood cancer, protein C deficiency, and lupus can make life stop in its tracks. But it can also be an opportunity to allow others to help with the “heavy lifting.”
In Kuala Lumpur, a new group of patient advocates is making a real difference in the lives of some very young patients. This group is unique. They have no healthcare training or credentials.
Their primary task is to help kids be kids, according to Malaysia Updates.
For anyone struggling with a chronic disease, here is always an impressive team of professionals to help you manage your experience. Your team may be made up of healthcare providers to help you feel better, support groups to help you cope, fellow cancer patients to help you relate, and/or complete strangers who just want you to be silly.
In one hospital, a group called KIDS is helping children battle scary conditions beyond the medical aspects. Their goal is to provide moral support for children by children.
Anyone who has experienced or has had a loved one experience an extended stay at the hospital understands how much of a toll it can take on the patient and the family. Your life becomes an exhausting schedule of treatments, testing, and more treatments.
The KIDS group works to bring in other children to relieve some of the pressures on the young patients and their parents by reminding kids to be kids.
It’s a different type of healing therapy that goes beyond the vitals on a chart.
It’s a therapy of hugging, laughing, sharing secrets, telling private jokes, and being with someone else your age. It is an organic treatment—priceless.
KIDS does takes monetary contributions to help families pay for the cost of treatments and hospital stays. But in this hospital, KIDS is going for a bigger pay off—the connection between one child to the next to help bring about healing at a different level. To read more about this different approach to healing, click here.
