AU students help children affected by cancer

Medical student Rasmus Thøger Christensen had spent several years mulling over the idea of a camp.

Aged 13 he had been diagnosed with cancer in his lymph nodes. While his classmates were busy planning how to celebrate their confirmation, he was undergoing chemotherapy.

The process has left scars on his body and maybe also turned him into an adult at an early age. But it is also the direct reason why he is a medical student today.

"I experienced things in hospitals that gave me the motivation to want to become a doctor. Both good and bad, like the surgeon who casually told me on the way out of the door that I had cancer. I would never do that. On the other hand, there was also the fantastic treatment I received at the child cancer department at Aalborg University Hospital."

An experience that’s hard to beat

Towards the end of his illness in 2004, Rasmus, who was 16 at the time, landed one of the few Danish places on an international rehabilitation camp for children and young people with cancer in Ireland.

"It was the most fantastic ten days of my life ever! I doubt I’ll ever have a better experience in my life."

He talks enthusiastically about the camp at Barretstown Castle, which was almost a world in itself.

"That was where it began. I can clearly remember sitting in the car on the way home from the camp and feeling so happy, but at the same time also sad because it was all over."

Sitting in the car he promised himself that when he turned 18 he would return to the camp in Ireland, this time as a volunteer. This year he celebrated his tenth anniversary at the camp.

Difficult to return to living a normal teenage life

His experiences as both a participant and a volunteer at the camp in Ireland have led Rasmus to dream about creating a similar opportunity for children and young people with cancer in Denmark.

But it was first when his good friend and fellow student Heidi Kristine Støve gave him a nudge in the right direction a couple of years ago that the whole process really began in earnest.

During her research year at the department for child cancer at Aarhus University Hospital, she met many children and young people with cancer. So she was aware of the challenges they often face towards the end of their treatment, when they face-up to returning to a normal everyday life as healthy teenagers.

"During the course of the illness they have often been isolated from their school, leisure interests and friends over a longer period of time. We know from studies of children with cancer that they have an increased risk of developing delayed psychosocial complications such as anxiety, depression and social isolation," she says.

Rasmus Thøger Christensen adds:

"You’re in hospital for months or years during a phase of your life where you have to find out and shape who you are. But you don’t interact with children your age. And you can easily end up in a symbiotic relationship with your parents that you don’t want, simply because they are so involved in your life. Which, naturally, they should be," he says and continues:

"But part of being a teenager is learning to become independent. That’s why it’s so good to get away from home for a week without parents."

Not the same

Heidi has worked as a volunteer at the camp in Ireland for five years and, like Rasmus, she is also really enthusiastic about her experiences as a volunteer.

"The children aren’t the same when they return home. They’ve changed. They have increased self-esteem, more self-confidence and new friends. They almost glow. They find that they can do much more than they thought – even though they might have a physical disability as a result of the cancer. That’s an experience we want to provide for even more Danish children and young people with cancer," she says.

DKK 250,000 in support

In January the two students took six months off from their studies and spent the time working full-time to start the voluntary organisation ExcaliCare Childrens Organisation, which is located in the Student Incubator at Aarhus University.

Their idea of a rehabilitation camp for children and young people with cancer in Denmark is backed by the Child Cancer Foundation in Denmark, who have contributed more than DKK 250,000 to the project. This means that from 12 September, Heidi and Rasmus will be able to welcome around twenty young people affected by cancer to a one-week rehabilitation camp in Ribe. Initially as a pilot project, though they will work towards holding more camps in the future.

"We hope it will be a success so we can hold more camps, or perhaps even a permanent camp that runs throughout the year," says Heidi.

"We would also like to expand the concept to include siblings, parents and surviving relatives of children with cancer. In the long term we would also like to have camps for children and young people with other serious and chronic diseases," adds Rasmus.

Back to studying

After the pilot project they will both return to full-time studying while running ExcaliCare in their leisure time.

"I can’t just stop doing it. It’s so close to my heart and when you’re really passionate about something, you can also find time for it," says Heidi, who aims to train to be a paediatrician.

Rasmus dreams of turning ExcaliCare and camps for sick children and young people into a full-time job.

ExcaliCare Childrens Organisation

ExcaliCare was founded by Heidi Kristine Støve and Rasmus Thøger Christensen as a voluntary entrepreneurial company affiliated with the Student Incubator at Aarhus University.

The organisation is behind the pilot project Cool Camp 2015, which is a rehabilitation camp for children and young people with cancer between the ages of 12-17.

The camp is operated in accordance with the principles of therapeutic recreation, where the participants undertake challenges and activities that lead to successful experiences. These are followed-up by an opportunity to reflect on these experiences with e.g. informal chats in the cabins. The camp is also an opportunity for the participants to meet other people in the same situation as themselves.

Find out more at excalicare.dk (in Danish)

Translated by Peter Lambourne