How can a child fighting cancer expect to look in 10 years? On the occasion of World Cancer Day, the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon offered a potential answer to that question.
The center launched its “Future Reina” campaign to coincide with World Cancer Day, marked annually on Feb. 4, releasing a Youtube video featuring 8-year-old Reina, who is being treated by CCCL.
“To give a glimpse into Reina’s bright future” 10 years from now, the center collaborated with the media agency Republique and tech company Robocom VR, according to a statement from the center. The tech company input pictures of Reina and her close family members at different stages of their lives into artificial intelligence software, creating a photo-realistic graphic overlay of Reina's face.
The result is footage of Reina with longer hair, a deeper voice and more mature facial features.
The video highlighted how children with cancer are often unable to comprehend the severity of the disease. Reina’s mother Nazha Ahmad told the interviewer, “If you were to ask her [Reina] today, ‘What do you prefer, getting your hair back or getting better?’ She replies, ‘No, I prefer having long hair again.’”
Ibrahim El Kawam of Robocom VR said in the video, “We wanted to reveal the results to Reina and her family and show how technology can be a source of hope.”
According to CCCL’s statement, the center provides free treatment to its young patients and had a 80 percent survival rate in 2018. It said it “relies on $15 million of donations annually” to continue the service.
Managing Director of Republique Fadi Mroue told The Daily Star that the center currently treats 300 children fighting cancer.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
