We are The Christie magazine July 2025 Staff edition

Under the microscope

VR therapy How virtual reality helped Nathan face his cancer treatment .

Before arriving at The Christie, seven-year-old Nathan from County Clare in Ireland had already been through a lot of gruelling cancer treatment. Diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma – a rare type of bone cancer – he’d had 14 rounds of chemotherapy and a big operation to remove a watermelon-sized tumour from his ribs.

By the time he got to Manchester for proton beam therapy, a type of radiotherapy, he was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted.

It was at this point that Penelope Hart-Spencer, one of the health play specialists, suggested that Nathan might benefit from virtual reality (VR) distraction therapy. In simple terms, this involved him putting on a headset and being immersed in another world via a 360° video. Patients can choose where they want to ‘go’ using VR, with options including the dinosaurs, under the sea and outer space. As soon as they put it on, they’re transported from a hospital setting to somewhere new and exciting. The team have been trialling VR distraction therapy since 2024. The headset they use is classed as a grade one medical device and can be used with children between the ages of six and 16. Although they’re using it with kids who are having things like blood tests done or a cannula put in, the biggest positive impact has been on patients like Nathan who have used it during treatment. “Once he started using the VR, he scooted down the corridor to treatment, which is just amazing. He was

“He was still dealing with the side-effects of chemo and everything else he’d been through, and it was just too much for him. He’d had enough of hospitals and being poked and prodded,” says Gráinne, his mum. “He got really upset about going in for treatment, which was distressing for both him and us as a family. He had to have 25 treatments over five weeks, and there was a point where we were wondering how we were going to get through it as he was that distraught.”

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