- This Saturday, February 15, is International Child Cancer Day.
- Twenty French hospitals now train parents of sick children in "magic massages".
- This free game encourages parents and caregivers to take care of children before, after or during painful care, to make them smile again.
The little snail, the swing, the heart on the hand ... These are words that are rarely associated with childhood cancer. For a few months, however, certain pediatric oncology services have been training parents in massages by these sweet names. On the occasion of International Childhood Cancer Day, 20 Minutes is exploring this concept of "magic massage".
What are these massages?
Since 2019, the La Roche-Posay Foundation has been developing this tool for children with cancer and their families, in partnership with Childhood Cancer International. Seven professionals (nurses, a socio-esthetician, a childcare worker, a dancer, a psychomotor therapist and a physiotherapist) have combined their knowledge to give birth to a game that invites young and old to use touch to better reconnect. Concretely, this board game, called "Magic Massages", offers gestures to be performed in the hospital by nurses or at home by parents on a sick child. "Many scientific publications show that regular massage can help limit pain and relieve side effects during cancer," says Perrine Marec Berard, pediatrician and oncologist at the Institute of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (IHOPe) In Lyon.
Enzo, who had leukemia at 12, was one of the first to test. "For a year, I had chemotherapy either at the Debré hospital (Paris) or at Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines)", explains the 14-year-old adolescent. It is in this second hospital that he crosses the road and the hands of Isabelle Landault, nursery nurse, who massages him after each chemotherapy. "He was very anxious, very nauseous, and very demanding of these moments of respite, which allowed him to release all the tensions", explains the nurse, who participated in the development of the game.
While Isabelle massages an arm, Enzo's mother takes care of the second, so that little by little, she takes the fold and can massage it at home. "Often she would massage me in the evening before chemotherapy to help me fall asleep," says Enzo. The names we had given to the different gestures, "bracelet", "feathers", it was fun, so that we remember it easily. And Enzo took the opportunity to learn how to massage his mother.
What precautions should I take?
Enzo has now finished his treatments and the game has inherited these colorful names. In total, the professionals imagined 25 gentle gestures. It is the sick child who chooses the menu: the duration of the massage, which part of the body and which gestures. "He will enjoy it all the more since it is he who decides," says the nurse. Especially at a time when it is the object of care and little the subject of choice. On the back of the cards, the gestures are explained in writing and in the form of a drawing, so that everyone can understand, whatever the origin of the family and the age of the patient.
Massaging a child with cancer requires precautions. Never touch the tumor area, scars, the catheter area. Above all, it must be the right time for the child and his parent. " We cannot relax one without the other, and we must take into account the tiredness of the young patient," continues Isabelle Landault. In oncology, you don't have the right to massage with pressure, always with a touch ”. And the nurse to explain the ritual. “The ideal thing is to start by taking three deep breaths together, to enter the cocooning bubble. Then repeat each gesture three times. But there are children, like Enzo, for whom it could go on forever. ” This moment can take place during the treatments, in order to divert attention. Because the less the young patient will be tense, the better he will support his treatments.
A relief for parents
The nurse is convinced that this practice - where the trained parent, and not the caregiver, takes care of his child - relieves loved ones. "When you announce a disease as serious as cancer, it is a total upheaval," she says. Parents often feel helpless, helpless. Because the disease will dictate the child's schedule, transhipped between hospitals, medical offices, chemo and exams, and nibble on playing time and complicity. “The parent will no longer dare to touch his child for fear of hurting him. For its part, the child who suffers does not necessarily accept as well as before touching it. Now we know how much caress is essential for growing properly.
According to a study by the La Roche Posay Foundation, 68% of parents of children with cancer express a need for help to communicate and / or to get in physical contact with him. By proposing to take this time, health professionals hope to recreate bond and joy. Because when the ants tickle and when the game tells the story of a little rabbit on a trampoline, laughter invites itself into a heavy daily life. "The parents of a 5-year-old girl explained to me that they ended up forgetting the disease during these massages, they felt essential," said the nurse.
Twenty hospitals in France have already adopted these original massages. And Russian, American and Brazilian pediatric organizations want to test it. "This is a sign that pediatric oncologists are more and more aware of non-drug techniques", rejoices the pediatrician and oncologist. If this game, free and downloadable on the Internet, is primarily intended for families affected by pediatric cancers, it can be used for other pathologies, in particular psychiatric. And Isabelle Landault to have fun: “it's achievable for everyone. I have a 16 year old daughter, she served as a guinea pig and she appreciated… ”
Health
"And the winning mistrals": How children cope with the disease with optimism and courage
Health
International Child Cancer Day: Pediatric cancer research faces many challenges
- Society
- Parental bereavement leave
- Hospital
- Sickness
- Health
- Child
- Cancer