Special superhero and cartoon masks bring joy to pediatric patients

When you think of Batman, Spiderman and Minnie Mouse, you think of superheroes, cartoons, and Disneyland. But a group of radiation therapy technologists (RTTs) are using these characters to help their tiniest cancer patients feel less anxious during treatment.

For about five years now, a team of RTTs have been spending their lunch breaks decorating masks that patients are required to wear during treatment. The masks are made to resemble some of their favorite superhero and cartoon characters.

“While the idea of treatment can be scary, especially for young kids, the masks at least for a moment help distract and comfort patients during the process,” said radiation therapist Seth Morgan.

The idea came to the group of RTT’s one day when they realized that there had to be a way to make pediatric patients feel more comfortable during the often daunting treatment process. During treatment, the mask allows the patient’s body to be kept still in the same position immobilized while the machine rotates around them.

The RTT’s started out by decorating a mask to resemble Batman. As time went on, they began receiving requests from patients including Elsa from Frozen and Mickey Mouse. We recently highlighted the story of Ty Whisler, who had his RT mask customized to resemble his favorite Chicago Cubs player, Anthony Rizzo, a fellow childhood cancer survivor.

It’s a program that the RTT’s hope to continue for years to come.

“We love doing things like this for our pediatric patients, even if it means working after hours on a mask,” said Morgan.