The fight against Cancer is even more difficult for young children who often feel lonely and develop anxiety. This is often because a child needs to be active, have friends around all the time and enjoy their childhood in school. 

A child coping with cancer needs physical, mental, and emotional support. Simply putting them on treatment is not enough. Cancer treatment is often very long drawn out and painful with children suffering from a number of side-effects. Efforts, therefore, have to be made to minimize pain as well as keep children in a positive frame of mind. 

© Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation

To help these young fighters make it through treatment a little more easily, The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation has developed an iOS app based on Augmented Reality, it is called Imaginary Friend Society. It contains a dozen characters to choose from and the user can place it wherever it wants to in the viewfinder. 

Using augmented reality, kids will be able to get a "pep talk" from characters just before a big procedure or when they're feeling down during treatment.

© Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation

According to research the agency conducted, many kids who survived cancer relied on an imaginary friend as a coping mechanism, which it has used as the basis for these films. The app intends to provide a minor distraction to kids, away from all the negativity. 

The Imaginary Friend Society AR app is being used in dozens of hospitals and cancer treatment centers across the US and can be installed an any compatible iPhone or iPad. 

© Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation

Dr. Mark Krieger, chief of neurosurgery at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles, said in an interview,) "We started having the Imaginary Friend Society on the 'get well' network at the hospital, so every kid over their bed has a little touch-screen TV that can pull up different types of content. We've been amazed at seeing how the kids really gravitate towards this." 

The concept of the Imaginary Friend Society stemmed from observing how kids with cancer get bombarded with confusing information and a wide array of invasive procedures—some of which, like chemo, probably make them feel sicker. 

© Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation

With the advances in technology, VR, AR and artificial intelligence (AI) are expected create entirely new applications in healthcare. According to a 2017 global healthcare sector outlook by Deloitte, the top ten technology innovations that will bring more value for less in health care are next-generation sequencing, 3D-printed devices, AI, point-of-care diagnostics, VR, and AR. 

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