For over two years, our team has sustained a dedicated focus on supporting more Michigan kids facing health challenges to access valuable immersive experiences through the pioneering VR 4 Kids Program at Maggie's Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan (MW4K).
This grassroots effort, initiated in late 2022 by Beth Savoldelli, a cancer survivor, advocate, and founder of XR Impact Network, is not just about imagining the benefits of a new technology-- but activating it strategically for good. It’s about compassion, collaboration, and tech’s potential to meet a genuine need in our communities that is not met elsewhere- one child at a time.
This unique Michigan VR Program allows us to demonstrate how virtual reality (VR) can positively affect the lives of children navigating health challenges while highlighting the power of strategic partnerships and the immense potential of community-driven solutions to uplift under-resourced youth populations.
In this update, we’ll share our cumulative progress and impact throughout our two-year journey.
What is XR Impact Network?
We are a social impact company on a mission to empower more patient communities to be supported with the help of immersive experiences. We partner with exceptional leaders and organizations to bridge the gap and enable access to VR for under-resourced youth communities through multi-partner VR programs, including 18 Loop, TRIPP, Inc., Invincikids, Cleanbox Technology, Child's Play Charity, Virtual Beings
Why did we build this program?
In the U.S., approximately 9,910 children under the age of 15, and 300,000 worldwide receive cancer diagnoses annually. At its inception, the VR 4 Kids Program aimed to address a pressing need: to meet Michigan children facing chronic illnesses, including cancer, where they are-- to better cope and improve their quality of life.
Standard health services only go so far and, in many cases, not far enough. What is needed are community-based health centers to effectively bridge the gap.
For over 21 years, MW4K has provided needed support services to over 500 children annually, referred from eight pediatric Michigan hospitals. Innovative interventions like VR are now a current feature of the Center's offerings. This new VR Program—a hit with kids and parents alike—is proving to spark joy, relieve anxiety, and foster resilience during ongoing health journeys under the pioneering leadership of Maggie Varney, Founder and CEO of MW4K.
"At Maggie’s Wigs 4 Kids, we believe in the transformative power of patient support, compassion, and healing. The VR 4 Kids Program exemplifies our commitment to providing innovative, holistic support to children facing health challenges, and we are thrilled to witness the positive impact it has on our VR program participants.” – Maggie Varney, Founder, CEO of Maggie’s Wigs 4 Kids of Michigan
Securing Strategic Partnerships > 6
Central to the success of the VR 4 Kids Program is collaboration with exceptional leaders and organizations with a shared goal of helping more people benefit from VR therapies and experiences. Nonprofits, tech companies, and passionate volunteers come together, pooling their resources and expertise to create a comprehensive program. This coalition, grown to include six current key partners, aims to provide access to a library of immersive experiences—many with years of clinical research-- to ensure the program provides meaningful support to those who need it most.
"TRIPP has supported numerous research studies including an end-of-life pilot with cancer patients, being able to leverage our XR wellness platform in helping children undergoing treatment for cancer is a distinct honor and a privilege. Watching a child put on a headset and transform her surroundings into her own personal sanctum of calm, wonder, and peace brought me to tears. We are incredibly honored to be selected to participate in this pilot program, and we look forward to continuing to support these courageous and inspiring children through our XR wellness platform." – Nanea Reeves, CEO and Founder of TRIPP, Inc.
Growing Impact:
VR Program Participants
Since its 2023 launch, the VR 4 Kids Program has doubled participation. Pediatric cancer diagnoses represent 48% of children receiving support services at MW4K. The initial goal was to support this cohort with VR programming. We partner with families to gather and share valuable insights into the effectiveness of the technology.
Overwhelmingly, we learned that VR helps empower children to navigate more moments successfully, in or beyond the hospital. This inspired our team to expand the program in 2024 to include pediatric conditions supported at MW4K, like trichotillomania (11%), alopecia (36%), and others (5%).
To date, we’ve been honored to enable 38 deployments to Michigan children, who have activated 1K+ individual immersive moments over two years-- providing a transformative escape into a world of imagination and wonder that VR can uniquely deliver.
“VR helped me so much when I was in the hospital. Chemotherapy and hospital stays can be boring and very stressful. My VR allows me to deal with this through meditation. TRIPP helps me when I feel really sad, upset, or angry. TRIPP is so calming. It allows me to just relax and forget all the sadness and anger while I drift away.” – Bree, Pediatric Patient Age 10, Ewing Sarcoma
Headset Inventory > 28
A critical aspect of expanding access to VR technology is securing enough headsets to deploy to enthusiastic kids in the Program. Generous contributions from partner nonprofits 18 Loop and the American Childhood Cancer Organization (ACCO), Invincikids, and individual donors have built an impressive VR headset inventory to meet the demand, including one Apple Vision Pro!
Securing Access to a Range of Best-fit Pediatric VR Experiences > 50+
From the beginning, we learned from participants that access to a variety of VR experiences needed for different age groups would be critical to ensure meeting their needs in navigating different moments (pain, anxiety, distraction, boredom) at different times and in different settings (home or hospital). We endeavored to make this all possible.
Thankfully, we knew where to start, which was with trusted existing partnerships, each successfully delivering a unique and essential aspect of the puzzle needed to fulfill the holistic scope and the client’s vision for the Program.
TRIPP, Inc. is an intrepid global leader in deploying innovative technology for the greater good through its award-winning XR experiences with AI capabilities led by CEO and Founder Nanea Reeves. TRIPP, Inc. is designed to support personalized well-being and improve quality of life-- ideal for teens and adults.
Invincikids is an exceptional nonprofit organization led by Executive Director Andre N. Bollaert with a focused determination to dramatically improve healthcare experiences for all children, regardless of their social, economic, or cultural backgrounds. Invincikids distributes clinically researched immersive experiences developed at Stanford University and other leading research partners.
Child's Play Charity, led by Executive Director Travis Eriksen, is a global nonprofit leader in the pediatric XR space, delivering access to therapeutic games and technology to pediatric hospitals to improve patients’ lives through the power of play. Child's Play's independently researched and recommended VR experiences are trusted by over 190 hospitals globally.
Virtual Beings: Children navigating health challenges tell us how much they love caring for pets in safe, virtual spaces. Virtual Beings (Beta) was founded by Wendelin Reich, a former researcher in social psychology and computer scientist at Stanford, with special expertise in behavioral AI.
From calming, meditative environments to interactive games that promote physical activity, securing a variety of offerings has been pivotal. Our generous partners have made this collective VR library possible.
Access to these VR experiences has facilitated not just distraction but engagement and support, allowing children to better navigate hospital procedures, extended hospital stays, and recoveries at home.
Commitment to Clinical-grade Device Hygiene Solutions
Many children with compromised immune systems visit MW4K each week for support services. Ensuring proper device sanitation for the VR 4 Kids Program remains an ongoing priority for our team and an essential component of any holistic VR Program. All VR devices utilized are sanitized using Cleanbox Technology, generously made possible by our partner, 18 Loop.
Cleanbox Technology, led by CEO and Founder Amy Hedrick, produces valuable products that use patented UVC light engineering to provide 99.999% decontamination of shared or frequently used devices.
Qualitative Recipient Insights: > 400+
Essential to any initiative is providing stakeholders with meaningful insights they prioritize and value. The VR 4 Kids Program has generated over 400+ assessments, including recipient testing reports, images, and videos generating qualitative feedback into how, when, and where specific VR experiences support children navigating a health challenge. We share these valuable insights with our partners and team so we can all learn, appreciate, and benefit from them.
Raising Awareness Through Social Media > 90+ posts
Due to the number of youth navigating chronic health conditions globally, raising awareness about helpful VR solutions to enable more people to benefit-- is as important to us as delivering VR services.
We believe in the power of organic social media and our growing community and platform to amplify the heartwarming, authentic images and stories of participants and parents, as well as the unique qualities and features of the VR experiences that kids use, enjoy, and love.
Takeaways
It’s exciting to continue to learn, grow, and build a new community around this effort—to support kids across Michigan and beyond through VR, fostering a sense of healing, joy, and hope.
We are grateful to all contributors for making this program possible.
Thank you for being a part of our community.
“It’s inspiring to know that our small contributions are helping these kids. In all of my years in XR, this is the most impactful story I've ever encountered. I've done several social impact projects with XR but in terms of scale, impact, and audience, this is by far the most comprehensive." – Lorenzo Vallone, COO, Cleanbox Technology
For insights and updates, join us at XR Impact Network.
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This blog was created to share valuable insights captured from XRIN projects, partners, and people served to inspire an understanding of the grassroots impact shaping the growing wellness and therapeutic XR community.