UNDATED (WJRT) - (11/28/06)-- If you want to help children understand cancer better, get them a video game.
to help kids and young adults who suffer the disease understand it better.
States.
While treatments are getting better, helping young people understand the disease hasn't been getting any easier, until now.
Like many kids his age, 17-year-old David Kossow can often be found in front of the TV. I've been playing video games all my life.
He's also taking it easy because of his health. Three years ago he was diagnosed with Leukemia. It was pretty much a shock.
The news meant dozens of trips to the hospital and 36 months of chemotherapy. It's been a rough three years, said David's dad, Mike Kossow.
game through a study at Washington University.
The game is called Re-Mission. Roxxi, the main character, is a robot who seeks and destroys the enemy -- cancer.
It kind of gives a whole new perspective on fighting cancer.
I mean you can't really do it physically, so you can do it virtually.
Kids in the study played this game or a regular video game for three months. Researchers found the teens who played the game felt better overall, knew more about their cancer, and were more likely to take their medications properly.
We always have to try to be creative with teenagers, especially to come up with ways to engage them in the process because a lot of times, their reaction to all of this is to just shut down, said Jeanne Harvey, from Washington University.
David's beaten all 20 levels of Re-Mission. He knows that that chemo level, said his dad.
Now that he's done with treatment, David's final mission is to destroy the cancer in his body for good.
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