Story from an ACCESS Partner - Stephanie Sund at AIC Kijabe Hospital

 

I’m the lucky one, because as a child life specialist, I’m the one who gets to hear the giggles and see the joy on kids’ faces each time I open the case and pull out a set of Invincikids Meta Quest virtual reality goggles. In rural Kenya, where I live and volunteer at AIC Kijabe Hospital, virtual reality is a completely new and awe inducing experience for everyone around. I offer the goggles for use to kids who are in the operating room holding area, waiting to be brought in for surgery, and to kids on the hospital wards, many of whom are bed bound.

I want to share with you the story of a recent young boy whose hospital experience was completely altered by the availability to play VR. Mohamad* is a Somali boy who was hit by a truck and sadly suffered a spinal cord injury leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. An active young boy to bed-bound in a matter of seconds. I was contacted by the ICU nurses who were worried about Mohamad’s mental state as he watched the activity of the ICU all day with nothing to do and nothing to distract him from his situation. 

He didn’t speak much English, wasn’t able to use his left arm, and was unable to sit up completely. This all would have made it difficult to find a toy for him to play with, but because we were donated a VR set by Invincikids, I was able to set him up with VR. The games set up on the headset by Invincikids allow the kids to play games with only their eyes and slight head movements. This was perfect for Mohamad, and he loved it! 

He was in the hospital for a few months and never got tired of playing virtual reality when he was not in therapy. I got to see this sweet kid transform, from the despondent boy I first met, to now breaking into the biggest smiles and using his bits of English to tell me which game he would like to play next. I think the VR brought him hope that he could still have fun in the world. Mohammad was eventually released from the hospital but was readmitted a month later with a short bout of pneumonia. His mom found me to let me know he was back and when I walked in his room he grinned from ear to ear and then made a motion with his hand of lifting goggles to his face. There was no doubt why he was happy to see me, and this time, with a healed left arm, he was able to shoot slingshots and climb castles all from his hospital bed.