How a daughter's cancer treatment inspired an interactive app for sick kids

After watching his 13-year-old daughter go through a gruelling year of cancer treatment Dom Raban realised more could be done to help children feel at ease in hospital. Now his app, Xploro, has been trialled at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, with further plans to expand it across the NHS. The app provides an interactive experience for young patients receiving hospital treatment, allowing them to interact with a personally designed avatar that can explain treatments, machines that will be used and answer any questions they have about their hospital stay. With more than 10 years experience as the managing director of an interactive design company, Raban set about looking at digital solutions that would provide important information about care and treatment to young patients. His daughter, Issy, was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in 2011.