Dad of cancer survivor develops app to help children prepare for hospital treatment

Dom's daughter, Issy, was 13 years old when she was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer called Ewings Sarcoma in 2011. She was treated at six different hospitals and had 15 rounds of chemotherapy as well as many blood transfusions. Issy eventually travelled to the United States for pioneering Proton Beam Therapy.

After his daughter survived the disease, Dom decided to create an app designed to help children prepare for hospital treatment and founded his own company around the product. "When she was 13 she was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma. Now, aged 20, she’s cancer-free, but when she was ill nobody told her what to expect and that made her feel scared, anxious and alone. But this problem isn’t unique to Issy.
Across the board provision of information preparing children for hospitalisation is poor. The few resources that hospitals do have, such as books and leaflets, become worn out quickly and are costly to replace and there aren’t enough play staff to spend time with children, preparing them for procedures. But research shows that if you provide patients with information prior to treatment you reduce their stress and anxiety and improve their clinical outcomes. Dom Raban, Xploro co-founder and Issy’s dad, decided that it was about time we give our children the information they need and deserve and so his company have developed Xploro®", it says on the official website.

Xploro is a health information platform that uses augmented reality, gameplay and artificial intelligence to deliver health information to young patients, in a way which makes them feel empowered, engaged and informed, whilst having fun at the same time.

"By putting health information in the hands of children, using language they understand and interaction paradigms that they are familiar with, we aim to reduce their stress and anxiety and improve their clinical outcomes. By reducing the fear associated with procedures we aim to reduce repeat procedures and shorten treatment times. Finally, by improving child health literacy we provide the foundations for a generation of patients better able to self-manage their healthcare", the website explains.

Dom said his daughter felt "isolated and scared" because she was not given enough information about her treatment.

The app, Xploro, is currently being trialled at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and The Christie.

Adapted from: https://bbc.in/2XLpQhT

More info: https://xploro.health