KIDS KICKING CANCER - HEALING WITH THE POWER OF LIGHT

Kids Kicking Cancer was founded by Rabbi/Professor Elimelech Goldberg, who is both a black belt in the martial arts and a father who lost his first child to cancer in 1983. He is also a Clinical Asst. Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State University Medical School. “Rabbi G” (as he is fondly called by his students) created the Kids Kicking Cancer program after serving for 12 years as the Director of a New York based summer camp for children with cancer. His experience in the martial arts, as a spiritual leader and as a parent who can identify with other parents facing serious disease, has provided him with remarkable insight into issues facing children and families with a diagnosis of cancer. Rabbi Goldberg was joined in 2001 by Dr. Susan Gardin, a public health specialist with clinical degrees in psychology, physical therapy, and health education from Stanford University, U.S.C. and U.C.L.A. As the National Program Director, Dr. Gardin is intimately involved with program management and development.

Children with cancer typically feel a tremendous loss of autonomy, control and personal identity. They are required to endure treatments that cause them to feel “sick” in order to heal. They are confronted with multiple fears, including mortality, hair loss, falling behind academically and socially, as well as many other issues that affect how they view their bodies, their lives and their destinies. Rather than allowing children to view themselves as “victims” of disease, KKC trains pediatric cancer patients to see themselves as capable and important participants in their own healing. The impact of this change in perception on the psychological and emotional outlook of the children is dramatic.

By focusing its program around the healing themes of martial arts training, KKC not only strengthens children physically, but also teaches them to tap into the “inner light” of their spiritual self - a focus that generates incredible power, energy and internal strength. The inner spirit or soul of each child is viewed as the defining element of the child, rather than the body or the tumor that has invaded the child’s body. Instead of emphasizing all the things that pediatric cancer patients cannot do, KKC focuses on all the things they can do. The goal of KKC is to help children with serious disease to heal, while empowering them physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Summary of Services:

  Weekly martial arts classes for patients and siblings, ages 6-22 years of age
  Relaxation, meditation and empowerment training for patients and siblings
  Individual support for children during difficult clinic procedures and hospitalizations
  Therapeutic martial arts/physical therapy for brain tumor patients
  Training for medical staff in KKC pain management techniques
  Sibling support programs
  IEP support for individual children
  Special family events
  Group and individual parent counseling and support
  End-of-life pain palliation & hospice care
  Research and advocacy
  Bereavement counseling