Proton therapy patients speak about the Mission: All Systems Go! program made by NASA and Fred Hutch

On Nov. 2, 2024, NASA and Fred Hutch Cancer Center officially launched a program designed to help reduce anxiety in children and all patients before starting treatment with proton therapy. Several patients/parents of patients got up and spoke about the program and their experience.

Proton therapy is a type of radiation therapy that uses beams of protons (tiny particles with a positive charge) to kill tumor cells. This type of treatment can reduce the amount of radiation damage to healthy tissue near a tumor. It is used to treat cancers of the head and neck and organs such as the brain, eye, lung, spine, and prostate. Proton beam radiation is different from standard X-ray radiation.

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