Team IMPACT & THE PEDIATRIC CANCER COMMUNITY
IMPACTING THE PEDIATRIC CANCER COMMUNITY
Cancer is the number one disease-related cause of death in children. When a child is diagnosed with any form of cancer, the entire world changes for both the child and their family. Youth sports are replaced by chemotherapy infusions, middle school dances give way to immunocompromised hospital stays, and family trips are put on hold to save money for medical expenses. A child fights two battles – one for their life against cancer and another for the childhood that looks so vastly different from their peers. And it doesn’t just affect the child. Parents spend sleepless nights and long hours in hospital waiting rooms worrying for their child. Siblings worry too, while quietly wondering if they will experience true childhood.
As Team IMPACT grows into a truly national organization, the next step for us is to further customize our life-changing program for different diagnosis groups. Cancer will be the first for Team IMPACT, and with philanthropic support, we will pilot this initiative in Philadelphia and the Mid-Atlantic. We will customize our outreach, case management, and training to maximize the therapeutic, team experience for every child with cancer who needs our program. We will invest in strategic partnerships and look to fund research that validates and improves our therapeutic outcomes. We will use college sports to revolutionize psychosocial care for every child with cancer or a related blood disorder.
BY THE NUMBERS
Since 2011, Team IMPACT has matched more than
children with cancer and related blood disorders with college athletic teams around the country.
This accounts for approximately
of all the families who have experienced our program.
Right now, there are more than
children actively matched with teams.
There are currently
children in the process of being matched.
Cancer-Focused Case Management
Cancer is a disease that is inherently unique to each patient. Likewise, the challenges faced by families with cancer are often different from the challenges presented by other childhood illnesses. Having a case manager who understands these challenges and is prepared to help families overcome them is essential.
Just like the top children’s hospitals have doctors, nurses, social workers, and child life specialists who specialize in cancer care, at Team IMPACT, we believe it is important to provide that same level of clinical expertise to our patient families. Having a master’s level social worker or certified child life specialist with experience in cancer care will allow us to bring a unique, precision-medicine approach to the case management we provide, and it is another important step in establishing Team IMPACT as a true extension of psychosocial care outside the hospital.
At Team IMPACT, we pride ourselves on the level of satisfaction our families have with their experience in our program.
A retrospective survey of 92 parents including many of children with cancer, conducted 12 months into their child’s Team IMPACT journey, resulted in:
81%
INCREASE IN CHILD'S COOPERATION WITH ROUTINE MEDICAL TREATMENT
81%
IMPROVED INDEPENDENCE WITH THEIR MEDICAL CARE
78%
BETTER ADVOCACY FOR THEMSELVES AMONG THEIR MEDICAL TEAM
83%
INCREASE INTEREST IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
80%
IMPROVEMENT IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVEL
Sawyer's Story
Age: 10
Diagnosis: Pediatric Cancer
Matched With: Penn State Football
