Man uses martial arts to help kids struggling with pain

Elimelech lost his first child, Sarah, to leukaemia, in 1981. when she was two years old.

That (and seeing other kids in pain) inspired the martial arts teacher to found Kids Kicking Cancer. “We use martial arts as a platform for meditation, for relaxation, to allow children to gain these tools and to really face down so much of the fear and the anger and the junk that accompanies pain," Elimelech explained.

This organisation helps kids struggling with cancer by providing free martial arts classes focused on breathing techniques and meditation, individual support during hospitalizations and medical procedures and counselling.

One day, Elimelech saw a child screaming in pain during treatment. Seeing that, he taught the boy some breathing techniques. By the nurse removed the needle after chemotherapy, the boy had hardly noticed.

"We are able to breathe through the pain and imagine the pain lowering. The brain has an amazing capacity to put us into a different place. When children get a diagnosis like cancer or any major disease, they lose any sense of feeling that they're controlling their lives. They're prodded and poked and touched, and they're often so afraid. We teach kids how to control their pain and make them feel powerful”, the founder explained.

Kids Kicking Cancer has been helping thousands of children and families across the USA, Italy, Israel and Canada.

The organization began in Michigan and has since expanded its programs to New York, Los Angeles and Florida and internationally to Italy, Israel and Canada.

Adapted from: https://cnn.it/2OQjDLY

More info: https://kidskickingcancer.org/