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Racing across mountains at Yellowstone National Park, visiting Caribbean beaches or orbiting outer space are experiences 15-year-old Jose Mauricio Cordova Campos thought he¡¯d never have. But at MD Anderson Children¡¯s Cancer Hospital¡¯s K-12 school, he and other patients ¡°travel,¡± using the new Google Expedition virtual reality program.

Once a week, patients in the school¡¯s Pediatric Education and Creative Arts Program don virtual reality, or VR, goggles, and step into a different world. Sometimes the places they visit relate to current news stories or national holidays. Sometimes lessons focus on history and various cultures.

¡°With this interactive educational program, we like to give our students an opportunity to pick a place that fits the lesson of the day,¡± says Bonnie Butler, senior coordinator and teacher. ¡°It¡¯s a real cool experience to use the VR goggles,¡± says Mauricio, who¡¯s being treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

¡°It¡¯s like you¡¯re really there and seeing it up close.¡±

Butler says the virtual reality expeditions give patients a chance to escape their daily lives as cancer patients and see and learn about different places they may never have thought to visit.

¡°Seeing their awe and wonder when viewing national landmarks, deep oceans or flying meteors makes me happy to be part of something so cutting edge,¡± she says.