Air Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Cancer dance therapy
There's a new kind of healing movement going on at a bay state hospital. It involves dancing away from a deadly disease. A breast cancer survivor is using her love of dance to lift the spirits of other women in her shoes. The dance class she started requires no previous dancing experience, it's all about healing and having fun.
Susan Osofsky-Ross loves to dance.
Susan Osofsky-Ross, dancer
"I've danced for 30 years, I was a dance teacher at the Boston Ballet."
But when she was faced with breast cancer, she feared her dancing days may be over.
Instead, she laced up her ballet shoes and fought back! And now she's using her passion for dance to help other women battling the disease.
Susan Osofsky-Ross, dancer
"I wanted to do something to help them through dance, to help them fight their fight and to empower them to help them take back control of their lives."
Susan started the program "I Hope You'll Dance" at Emerson Hospital in Concord.
She calls it a support group with sass.
Susan Osofsky-Ross, dancer
"One of my women told me that it's like a support group but with more giggling and laughing than doom and gloom."
The class is all about having fun, and these women say it's a welcome distraction.
Susan Osofsky-Ross, dancer
"It helps you to forget all about the medical stuff that's going on in your body and the chemicals that are running like crazy in your blood stream."
Not only does the dancing help the women emotionally, it helps them heal.
Dr. Jack McGrath, Emerson Hospital
"By the stretching, it decreases swelling in the arm as well as decreases some of the scar tissue and therefore less pain and increased range of motion for this type of treatment."
Barbara North, dancer
"I can feel it, I know it has helped me physically and emotionally."
The class has become so popular that it's now open to anyone battling any type of cancer- not just breast cancer. Susan says she's had some male students as well.
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