Kids Kicking Cancer is an organization devoted to helping children overcome the pain of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. It was founded in 1999 by

Rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Elimelech Goldberg, a black belt in the martial arts and the former rabbi of congregation

Young Israel The National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) or Young Israel (in Hebrew: , ''Yisrael Hatza'ir''), is a synagogue-based Orthodox Judaism organization in the United States with a network of affiliated "Young Israel" synagogues. Young Israel was found ...

Southfield, Michigan Southfield is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the city had a population of 76,618. As a northern suburb of Detroit, Southfield shares part of its ...

. The goal of the organization is to teach children to cope with cancer through

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

and spiritual training. After a two-year break, their annual

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

outing is back At the golf outing there is a silent auction.

Program goals

Kids Kicking Cancer partners with existing local hospitals in different communities to provide individual and group instruction, in the martial arts for children with serious acute and chronic illness – including cancer and

sickle cell disease Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blo ...

. As a way of making patients feel heroic, they are given martial arts uniforms to wear during treatment. During weekly class sessions, children are taught stretching, breathing exercises, guided imagery and meditation, as well as traditional karate moves. The breathing and guided imagery and meditation techniques have proved to be very effective in reducing a child's anxiety, pain, and discomfort during difficult clinic and hospital procedures. In March 2012, Goldberg was featured in ''People'' magazine in their "Heroes Among Us" feature.Sydney Berger and Lorenzo Benet, ''People Magazine'' (March 19, 2012) p.108 In August 2013, Kids Kicking Cancer was featured on ''Good Morning America''. In 2014 Rabbi Goldberg was nominated for the CNN heroes program and as of October 2014 he was a top 10 finalist. Participating hospitals can be found in California, New York, Florida, Michigan, Ontario, Israel, Italy, and South Africa.

References

External links

Kids Kicking Cancer website
Cancer organizations based in the United States {{charity-org-stub