Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/149404
Pediatric oncology massage Lucy's Love Bus was originally used to transport practitioners to young patients' homes. It is now used mostly at fundraising events. Lucy's Love Bus is the legacy of Grogan's daughter Lucy, who died in 2006 at age 12 after four years of treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. Grogan says that after a bone-marrow transplant, the only things that helped Lucy feel better were high doses of pain medication and massage therapy. During Lucy's time at home (more than half of her four-year ordeal) "we massaged her feet for hundreds of hours," Grogan says. Lucy wanted her legacy to be an organization that would enable kids with cancer to receive integrative therapies at home, while they were still receiving treatment as outpatients. "Having a massage makes me feel so calm and peaceful," says one 14-year-old girl who has been receiving regular massage thanks to Lucy's Love Bus. "I just get to take a break. My muscles have been through so much, and it really helps them feel rejuvenated." Her mother also sees the positive benefits. "[She] looks forward to a treatment that does not involve being stuck with a needle, or feeling sick afterward." Massage therapy, the mother adds, allows her daughter to "take her own power back into her body, which has had so much control taken from it." Lucy discovered the benefits of massage therapy and other integrative therapies at Children's Hospital in Boston. While oncology massage is offered at several of the country's large children's hospitals—other examples are Children's Memorial in Chicago, All Children's Hospital in Tampa, and the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.—it is still a rare commodity outside of hospitals. Yet, Grogan would argue that the need is greatest when sick children are at home, still receiving treatment on an outpatient basis—they still suffer from the side effects of treatment, but have no medical staff present to assist them. Broadening Access Although Grogan's organization raised enough funds by the end of 2012 to subsidize integrative therapies up to $1,000 per child for 100 children, Grogan wants to expand the organization's reach in order to serve children and families nationwide. "I'd like people to understand how unique Lucy's Love Bus is," Grogan says. 74 massage & bodywork september/october 2013 Her vision is to link with research partners to create "win-win-win" situations for patients and their families, researchers, and practitioners. "We are a great conduit [for researchers] to families and children who are dealing with cancer," she says, noting that she receives requests from "as far away as California and Arizona, plus Kansas, Indiana, Texas, all of New England, New York, and New Jersey." In turn, researchers could provide funds to support the work of trained oncology massage therapists to carry out research studies, while at the same time advancing awareness of, and access to, pediatric oncology massage. Not for Every Therapist Pediatric oncology massage is not for every massage therapist. It can be intense. It requires advanced training, and a special ability to relate, in a sensitive and professional manner, to both children and their family members. It demands good communication skills, nonverbal as well as verbal. In addition, it can be a special challenge to a therapist's ability to resist emotional transference, or simple burnout. Many therapists who practice oncology massage with children balance their schedule with other types of