Jonny Lupsha
jtlupsha@valdosta.edu

In a building in Palo Alto, Calif., a non-profit organization called HopeLab is helping kids fight cancer. With video games. According to its Web site, HopeLab is “a non-profit organization that combines rigorous research with innovative solutions to improve the health and quality of life of young people with chronic illness.” The organization’s first project is an educational – and medicinal – PC game, Re-Mission.

In Re-Mission, gamers play as Roxxi, a nanobot with an attitude who spends her adventure fighting cancer cells in the patients’ bodies.

A study of cancer patients age 13-29 shows that those who played Re-Mission experienced a higher quality of life, self-efficacy and a better knowledge of the disease in young people. Players also adhered to and responded better to chemotherapy and antibiotic medicines than patients who played other games. Roxxi shoots small doses of chemo and antibiotics at bacteria, cancer cells and more that attack her as she travels.

Communication ports let Roxxi talk to the patient and find out how they’re feeling as she flies around the bloodstream, down the spinal cord, and more. HopeLab is distributing Re-Mission for free to young cancer patients and is available to the public for an optional $20 donation. Upon purchasing Re-Mission, I found it to be educational, entertaining and motivating. I hadn’t spent more than an hour with Roxxi and our patients before deciding I’d never been happier to pay money for a video game.

And I’m not alone.

Re-Mission has received press from publications like The Hollywood Reporter, The San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today. HopeLab’s future plans include applying the knowledge gained from the Re-Mission project to help kids fight major depression disorder, autism, obesity and sickle cell disease. In a building in Palo Alto, Calif., a team of HopeLab employees is probably brimming with pride. And if they’re not, they should be. More information is available on their Web site, www.hopelab.org.