Cancer in adolescents and young adults is a grim reality that affects many families. Each diagnosis is an earthquake that disrupts and threatens the whole family. For nearly two decades, the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation has been inviting young people living with cancer to participate in a therapeutic adventure in the heart of the Canadian wilderness in order to learn the wisdom of the land, gain strength and courage, and surround themselves with light. Let’s visit the origins of this great adventure.
First chapters of the story
What is therapeutic adventure and what are its origins?
The very first experience of therapeutic adventure dates to the year 1901, when a doctor treating patients with tuberculosis decided to take them outside to reduce the risk of contamination. In addition to controlling the contagious nature of the disease, this method of treatment led to significant improvements in the patients’ health. They were more cheerful, smiling and energetic; undeniably the fresh air and nature had a beneficial effect on their recovery.
Many experiments of this kind were carried out during the 20th century in the contexts of social intervention and education. Each time the results were conclusive: participants benefited from a feeling of well-being, renewed energy and a state of calm and peace.
Therapeutic adventure is therefore an experience in the wilderness that aims to take a participant out of their comfort zone. This change allows the participant to discover previously unknown abilities, gain a sense of joy and experience a profoundly healing environment.
Special needs: all-natural solutions
For Mario Bilodeau – nature lover, retired professor, co-founder of the outdoor program at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi and PhD in Adventure Education – the idea of designing, promoting and coordinating nature expeditions for young people living with cancer was self-evident. Through his connection with the oncologist Dr. Sylvain Baruchel, the idea of the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation was born. Dr. Baruchel was looking for concrete tools to motivate his young patients to get through the stormy periods of the disease with strength and determination. In the winter of 1996, the two men, assisted by François Guillot, an adventure tourism entrepreneur, combined their knowledge and passion to organize a dog sledding expedition in the Groulx Mountains on the Côte-Nord of Quebec. This adventure proved to be the cornerstone of what would, in the early 2000s, become the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation under the leadership of François Veillet, a wise businessman who had joined them.
Based on a solid medical and academic framework and practical solutions adapted to meet the needs of the participants, young people from different age groups in treatment for or in remission from cancer have an opportunity to experience an immersion in nature alongside other young people who share a similar and singular life experience.
A Trio of Lifesavers
As a student in Mario Bilodeau’s classes at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (UQAC), Virginie Gargano’s academic career was focused on outdoor adventure intervention. Greatly inspired by her teacher and touched by her many volunteer experiences in the adventure context, Virginie Gargano witnessed the benefits of therapeutic adventure as expressed by young people living with cancer.
Today, as professor in the human and social sciences department of UQAC, she sees therapeutic adventure as the amalgamation of three essential elements for the well-being of the human being: contact with oneself, contact with the other and the proximity to nature. According to Gargano, this relationship to nature contains an element fundamental to the balance of the human. Among other things, it is this “homecoming”, that makes therapeutic adventure so life-giving.
Precious Encounters
According to Mario Bilodeau, the therapeutic adventures offered by the Foundation create a meditative space where young people can reconnect with their bodies and take back a measure of control. By pushing their physical and emotional limits, they discover that they are strong and autonomous and from this they gain confidence.
These wilderness adventures are also an opportunity to build unique relationships with peers who can fully and thoroughly understand each other’s reality. To illustrate the strength of these connections, Mario Bilodeau recalls hearing two young girls crying in their shared tent. When he approached their tent to make sure all was well, the girls confessed to him that this great sadness sprang from the fact that they were going to have to separate and that they feared for their friendship. What had united them during these few days of adventure was going to affect their lives forever.
Strength and Resilience
For Virginie Gargano and Mario Bilodeau, there is a great source of inspiration in these outdoor intervention adventures. Through these enriching experiences for young people, the team of caregivers has a front row seat to witness this recovery of resilience and strength, which they say is most inspiring.
“To see young people smile, emerge from their cocoons and fly like beautiful butterflies, it’s the most beautiful thing,” Bilodeau said. Taking part in the activities of the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation since its inception, this nature lover says that he has witnessed a multitude of magical moments and little miracles that remain etched in his heart.
Photo: Guillaume Roy