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Teens with cancer head off for therapeutic adventure

The Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital salutes 10th anniversary of the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation

Imagine. Imagine going on the trip of your life... dog-sledding on the world-renowned Yukon Quest Race Trail, in the heart of the Yukon. Imagine, you are a teenager with cancer and you鈥檙e going on this trip with 11 other teens and young adults who also live with cancer.

The Yukon expedition team leaves on March 3 and returns on March 12. The team will fly to Whitehorse and learn all about their surroundings and duties, and most importantly, how to drive dog-sleds and care for the dogs, camp in tents and live together in the wilderness. There they share their worries, their hardships, their apprehensions of what the future holds. They return sharing their new-found self-esteem, memories of their courageous expedition and confidence in what tomorrow might bring.

The On the Tip of the Toes Foundation is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Since 1996, the Foundation has been organizing therapeutic adventure expeditions for teenagers living with cancer. The idea was originated by a pediatric oncology team at the Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital (MCH) of the 成人VR视频 Health Centre who wanted to motivate teens to meet the challenges of life outside the hospital and sought the help of outdoor adventure experts. Shortly thereafter, Mario Bilodeau and Fran莽ois Guillot, respectively Professor of Outdoors Adventure and Tourism at Universit茅 du Qu茅bec 脿 Chicoutimi and Director, Parcs nationaux des Monts-Valin et de la Pointe-Taillon, became involved co-founders. They asked Annick Dufresne, now Managing Director of the Foundation, to create a non-profit organization.

What is the goal?

According to Annick Dufresne, 鈥淭he goal is to offer teenagers living with cancer a chance to leave the hospital and become isolated from civilization and from their day-to-day routine. In this way, the teens will regain their self-esteem, confidence in life and sense of pride by giving them a challenge, an opportunity to overcome their limits, realize their strengths and regain hope for the future. This is what we envisioned as we founded Tip of the Toes.鈥�

In the words of Amandine Johnson, teen participant in the 2004 winter expedition to Chic-Chocs in the Gasp茅, 鈥淟鈥檈xp茅dition m鈥檃 donn茅 tellement d鈥檈spoir pour le futur et m鈥檃 permise d鈥檈xprimer les vrais sentiments que j鈥櫭﹑rouve face 脿 mon exp茅rience avec le cancer. Avoir l鈥檕pportunit茅 de rencontrer et partager avec autant de gens incroyables fut pour moi un cadeau et une source d鈥檌nspiration pour vivre la vie 脿 son maximum et recommencer 脿 vivre comme avant. Durant mes traitements, je trouvais 莽a vraiment difficile de parler de ce que je vivais, mais l脿 je sentais que je pouvais tout dire. Maintenant, j鈥檃i une nouvelle perception de ce que signifie 锚tre une survivante du cancer; 莽a veut dire que je peux accomplir n鈥檌mporte quoi si j鈥檃i la foi et la pers茅v茅rance. J鈥檃i r茅alis茅 que mon cancer n鈥櫭﹖ait pas un frein 脿 la r茅alisation de mes r锚ves.鈥� And so the Foundation鈥檚 goals are being realized.

Each expedition involves five objectives that concern not only the teens but also the supervising staff: guides, doctors, nurses and educators. These objectives can be summarized as therapeutic, physical, cultural, geographic and educational. One of the educators has become so involved with the Foundation鈥檚 mission and so attached to the courageous teens that he has been on a dozen trips since 1997. Bertrand Dupuis, certified child life specialist and interim clinical leader of the MCH Child Life Program, loves interacting with, guiding and encouraging sick children of all ages in his daily work at the hospital. 鈥淏ut for a couple of weeks every year on these trips, I am reminded of the real passion I have for my profession, for wanting to help sick children get better and feel better about themselves, and for the value of changing one鈥檚 everyday environment,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 particularly remember Marie-H茅l猫ne C么t茅, who participated in the 2000 expedition to Ellesmere Island and who has since died. Marie-H茅l猫ne shared with us her enormous pride having been able to reach the summit of the mountain after several tiring days of hiking. She had just finished her cancer treatments four months before the trip. I am certain that her self-esteem and inner strength helped her face what the future held for her two years later,鈥� Bertrand Dupuis added.

Three of the 12 young adults participating in the Yukon expedition are patients of the MCH. In fact, the Montreal Children鈥檚 Hospital Foundation was the first to offer financial support to the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation at the very beginning of the expeditions. The MCH Foundation helps finance a portion of the participants鈥� trip. The other teens are from H么pital Sainte-Justine, the Centre universitaire de sant茅 de l鈥橢strie and the Centre hospitalier de l鈥橴niversit茅 Laval; the IWK Health Centre in the Maritimes; and the Children鈥檚 Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

The On the Tip of the Toes Foundation has organized over 15 trips involving some 150 teens, 34 of whom are/were patients of the MCH. Depending on the type of expedition, the youth discover nature through hiking, sea kayaking, canoeing, dog-sledding, snowmobiling or snowshoeing. The trips have included Ellesmere Island and George River in Nunavut, the Fjord du Saguenay, Anticosti Island, James Bay and Hudson Bay, and the Magdalen Islands in Quebec; Albany River and the Polar Bear Provincial Park in Ontario; Gwaii Haanas National Park and the Queen Charlotte Islands in British Columbia, among others.

Imagine... some dreams do come true.

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