Masks that can create superheroes

ABOUT 1,600 British children a year are diagnosed with cancer and at least a quarter of them have tumours in the head and neck, including brain cancer.

They may have to undergo one of the most uncomfortable medical interventions – radiotherapy, while wearing a tight plastic mask.

It involves a machine shooting beams of energy that penetrate the body and destroy tumours. However, the head must be clamped still to prevent those rays from hitting healthy tissue, which is why the mask is needed. But these masks, which also cover the neck and shoulders, can feel suffocating as well as looking frightening, too.

Now specialists at Leeds Children’s Hospital have found a way of making the process slightly more bearable – nurses paint them, above, to look like their favourite cartoon characters.

Lisa Beaumont, at Leeds Children’s Hospital, says: ‘We ask children who they want to look like before they undergo radiotherapy, and we see they try to become the character on their mask. It gives them a superhero alterego, which gives them strength to cope with the discomfort. We’ve even seen results of the treatment improve.’