{"id":1437,"date":"2026-09-15T13:09:01","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:09:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/?p=1437"},"modified":"2026-09-15T13:09:01","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T20:09:01","slug":"ufvs-amanda-wurz-helps-kids-with-cancer-and-blood-disorders-move-play-and-connect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/ufvs-amanda-wurz-helps-kids-with-cancer-and-blood-disorders-move-play-and-connect\/","title":{"rendered":"UFV\u2019s Amanda Wurz helps kids with cancer and blood disorders move, play, and connect"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was originally published here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

For children affected by cancer or blood disorders, staying active might mean performing gentle shoulder circles from a hospital bed. On other days, it could mean racing up and down the stairs to collect stuffed animals or learning how to play a new game or sport.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever the activity, Dr. Amanda Wurz wants them to have the chance to move, play and simply be kids.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UFV\u2019s Dr. Amanda Wurz is bringing The Move Club to B.C., providing opportunities for children with cancer and blood disorders to exercise and stay active.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0UFV\u00a0assistant\u00a0professor\u00a0is leading a national project bringing safe, accessible physical activity to children and adolescents with cancer and blood disorders.\u00a0Amanda\u00a0and her team, which includes UFV students, are launching\u00a0The\u00a0Move\u00a0Club in B.C.\u00a0this fall\u00a0with planned expansion\u00a0to Ontario and the Maritime provinces\u00a0soon after.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0special for UFV to be leading this. We have a lot of\u00a0UFV<\/span>\u00a0students and trainees contributing\u00a0in\u00a0both staff and volunteer roles to help\u00a0<\/span>make it\u00a0happen,\u201d Amanda says. \u201cThey are contributing to a program with national reach, and a long-term goal to improve access to physical activity support for children and families regardless of where they live.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something I think our students and the UFV community can be very proud of.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The roots of The Move Club go back to Amanda\u2019s postdoctoral work at the University of Calgary.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that during treatment, physical activity decreases or stops altogether because the kids aren\u2019t feeling well, they\u2019re in and out of hospital, or they\u2019re hooked up to lines that\u00a0can\u00a0make it uncomfortable\u00a0and hard,\u201d Amanda says. \u201cThat was the impetus for developing the first program \u2014 to find a way to meet kids virtually and help them stay active with safe and enjoyable play-based activities.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Funded by Michael Smith Health Research BC and the Canadian Cancer Society,\u00a0The\u00a0Move\u00a0Club is a 12-week, fully virtual program offering individualized physical activity support to children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer or a blood disorder\u00a0who are on- or off-treatment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Families without the necessary technology or reliable internet access can be provided with a tablet and data for the duration of the program. Children also receive Fitbits to help measure their activity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amanda and her team have spent the past year working with children and adolescents, their families, clinicians and community partners to build on what they learned from the Alberta program. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Alberta program was\u00a0for those on-treatment\u00a0only,\u00a0but in B.C. and across Ontario and the Maritime provinces,\u00a0The Move Club will be for those on-treatment as well as\u00a0those\u00a0who\u00a0have completed treatment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Alberta program was\u00a0also\u00a0entirely individual, but in B.C., Amanda heard overwhelmingly that children also need opportunities to connect with others who understand what\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0experiencing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA child might be immunocompromised, and they\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0see anyone else. They\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0have friends over and it can be really isolating,\u201d Amanda says. \u201cThe treatment might cause appearance changes, weight gain, or muscle wasting \u2014 and even when kids have social opportunities, they might feel they look different from their peers and\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0engage in activities the way they could before.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, having the opportunity to be with children who are going through the same experience can be very beneficial.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The thinking around exercise and pediatric cancer\u00a0and blood\u00a0disorders is also changing.\u00a0With respect\u00a0to\u00a0pediatric cancer,\u00a0decades ago, when survival rates were much lower, the focus was understandably on treatment.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut now in Canada upwards of 85 per cent of children diagnosed with cancer will survive at least five years, and many will go on to live for decades following treatment,\u201d Amanda says. \u201cAs medicine and care have advanced, studies have followed that show how safe, individualized physical activity can be highly beneficial for patients.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Move\u00a0Club meets children wherever they happen to be physically on a given day, adapting activities to how\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0feeling and where they are in their treatment\u00a0and recovery.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019ve just had a certain treatment or they\u2019re feeling unwell, it might just be gentle shoulder circles,\u201d Amanda says. \u201cIf they\u2019re in bed, it might just be getting up and down from that bed, and when they\u2019re feeling better and they\u2019re at home, it might be running up and down the stairs getting stuffed animals to show us.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter treatment,\u00a0movement might look like learning skills to support\u00a0engagement in a favourite sport or activity or gaining strength, flexibility, or\u00a0fitness,\u00a0and we\u00a0had\u00a0really good\u00a0buy-in from families\u00a0in Alberta\u00a0because it works at their child\u2019s pace.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Behaviour-change techniques are also built into the program, helping children develop the confidence to remain active after their 12 weeks with The\u00a0Move\u00a0Club ends.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Amanda, working with the children is a regular reminder that despite everything happening around them, they still want many of the same things as any other child.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey may be looking or functioning differently or feeling\u00a0unwell, but when they\u2019re feeling up to it, they just want to be treated like a kid, and they want to play like a kid, and make friends,\u201d she says.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amanda\u00a0is\u00a0hopeful\u00a0this\u00a0program\u00a0will\u00a0take root across Canada and become sustainable for years to come.\u00a0The ultimate reward will be seeing children\u00a0live well during treatment and\u00a0carry that active life with them long after treatment ends.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel incredibly privileged to work with these children and families,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0had parents tell me their child was able to keep moving even through some of the most intensive parts of treatment.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0seen children find ways to play and be active on\u00a0really difficult\u00a0days, and\u00a0we have\u00a0had families send\u00a0photos months or years later of their child mountain biking, horseback riding, or graduating from high school.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNot every child gets that future, and\u00a0it\u00a0makes the time we have\u00a0incredibly meaningful. Their strength and resilience stay with you.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was originally published here. For children affected by cancer or blood disorders, staying active might mean performing gentle shoulder circles from a hospital bed. On other days, it could mean racing up and down the stairs to collect stuffed animals or learning how to play a new game or sport.\u00a0 Whatever the activity, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":280,"featured_media":1438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77,6,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-kinesiology","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1437"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1441,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1437\/revisions\/1441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ufv.ca\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}