HAWMC Day 5: Aspiration

I find this topic inspiring for me think outside the box a tad. If i had unlimited resources really the sky would be the limit!

My goal would be to have a camp for children survivors that they could attend and regain a lot of things they may have lost through their cancer treatments. It would also include things like counseling, art/music therapy, animal therapy, mind body wellness, dealing with anxiety, etc.

I would then develop something more specific for young adults. I like the idea of young adult but I also feel as though the typical age range although some topics over lap like jobs, fertility, etc there are many that don't due to wide range of 18-40. I would love to develop a local program hopefully affiliated with area hospitals and wellness centers. It would be designed initial on an individual basis where the person can meet one on one with a team. A personal trainer, a social worker type, medical personnel, financial advisor, etc. From there they can decided what that person needs and develop an individual plan for them. As far as the social worker and fincial adviser they would be more to help get them into preexisting programs such as something through the fore mentioned hospitals or a lot of the financial assistance foundations/programs that are already in play. Once their individual plan is devised they would then enter into a group atmosphere I would think similar to that of the LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program. However it would much less formal, but still give them the option of being with other survivors, motivating each other as well as getting inspiration from them. I haven't worked out all the bugs but that is the general idea.

Then of course there is the adult age group of cancer survivors 40+. Which I think require an entirely different program. It could be similar to the young adult but I would like to be able to include services for their family/caregivers because often they are more involved then most realize. I also think that there are more other medical conditions going in addition to cancer with some people that would be this age group so they would need more than just cancer survivorship guidance but also help with managing this like arthritis, heart disease, etc.

My first year I would think that I would work on developing the program for young adults since I am a young adult and so that is what I am most comfortable with and then we can build from there. I think this idea would take many more years than 5 and lots of work by not only myself but many other people. Just thinking about it is extremely overwhelming and I applaud those people that have successfully started foundations and program similar to this nature as I can only imagine what it took to get that done.