Wilms Tumor survivor and karate

Katiesmom

My daughter was diagnosed at 3 months of age with Wilms tumor. Her left kidney was immediately removed, she completed chemotherapy and has been in complete remission. She is now 71/2 years old and very active. We always knew no contact sports but I always equated that to football which I knew she would never play. She has been begging us to join martial arts for almost a year now. Well we signed up this week and she is loving it. Well, they sparred this past Saturday, and honestly in never occured to me that there was contact involved, until then. I do not want to tell her she can't do this.
With the kicks involved in sparring, we can use a vest to help protect her, however how do we protect her when she has to do a sweep fall?
Does anyone have a suggestion?

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zumomma

I am an adult WT survivor
I am an adult WT survivor and for one reason or another, I slipped through the cracks and played contact sports.(Never injured the remaining kidney). There is some debate due to current research as to whether or not it is OK for kids with one kidney to play such sports. I don't have the research handy, but I don't think it showed any significant increase in injury to kids with one kidney. Every family needs to decide for themselves. I don't know much about karate, but I would tend to let her do as much as she can. Take all the safety precautions that you can, research to see the number/type of injuries that occur with this sport, and then make your decisions based on all of that, with her feelings/ desires, etc included. It seems from reading these posts that most of us felt a bit awkward in the growing up years (well, beyond the normal!)due to the whole cancer process/recovery/lt effects, that the more "normal" she can do/be, the better she'll feel.
HTH -glad she is doing well!
Zuma