Project news

The FORTEe consortium met in Lecco, Italy, by the stunning Lake Como at the end of February 2024 to review recent progress in the clinical trial and research outcomes. Leaders of the different work packages shared and deliberated on the current status of their projects. It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with familiar faces and meet new members in person.

As the year comes to an end, we seize the opportunity to look back at some great achievements FORTEe and its diligent team made during the past 12 months.

The FORTEe clinical trial is progressing well at all 9 established trial sites. On top, we could welcome in October UKESSEN as the 10th trial site and new clinical partner. Up to now, more than 300 participants have been enrolled in the FORTEe clinical trial, since it was initiated.

All work packages are making encouraging progress and in Spring of 2023 we had the chance to discuss the project the first time in person at our General Assembly Meeting in Madrid! All work package leaders reported their progress and we had the chance to take important decisions together.

In September, a successful #GoldSeptember social media campaign was launched with contributions from all FORTEe partners! Our dedicated team members captured moments of solidarity by taking pictures in gold to symbolize the strength and resilience of children battling cancer. We wholeheartedly shared these images across our social media platforms, amplifying the message of hope and the need for continued research and support.

We are looking forward to another exciting year with FORTEe! We warmly invite you to join us in the next phase of our journey. Stay engaged and up-to-date by following our social media channels (Instagram, X, LinkedIn & Facebook) for the latest updates and subscribe to our electronic newsletter via this link to be updated with FORTEe’s ongoing development.

Last week, the FORTEe Team from FORMA3D in Ljubljana, Slovenia, embarked on an exciting journey to visit their counterparts in Monza and Milan, Italy. The purpose of this visit was two-fold: to strengthen the collaborative bond between FORTEe project partners and provide an opportunity for mentor and mentee pairs to meet face-to-face. Everyone was eager to exchange ideas, insights, and experiences that would further enhance the success of the FORTEe project!

Now, let’s read about Meta and Domen’s reflection on the visit:

“We have been looking forward to our visit to Monza and Milan for quite some time, to see first-hand how the FORTEe project works in those centres. It was great to meet our fellow researchers and, of course, our mentors from the mentor-mentee program. They were very knowledgeable and made us feel welcomed there. We shared our experiences and had a lot of fun experiencing their work environment. We took part in cardio-pulmonary exercise testing (CPET) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), which was very interesting to see, because we do not perform these measurements in our centre. We also had the chance to meet their patients, who shared their positive thoughts about the program, so we left Italy with even more enthusiasm for working in the future. Thanks again to the Italian team!”

Thank you, Meta and Domen, for sharing your experience with us!
Together we #GetStrongToFightChildhoodCancer!

Embarking on a mentor-mentee training journey abroad can be a transformative experience for both mentors and mentees. It’s an opportunity to not only exchange knowledge but also to forge lasting connections across borders. In the first week of October 2023, Emma Fredskild Høvighoff, a young researcher from RegionH in Copenhagen, paid a visit to the FORTEe Team in Madrid as part of the training activities embedded in the FORTEe project.

Let’s hear Emma’s thoughts about the visit:

“First of all, it was a lovely trip and great to meet fellow researchers from FORTEe! It was inspiring to see how they run FORTEe in Madrid, get inspiration and discuss challenges. I was very lucky to see how they analyze blood samples with some of the same techniques as they will use in the biomarker project in FORTEe. Furthermore, I also joined a small presentation with the team and got to see the other projects they are working with. It was overall a great trip and it was lovely that the team in Madrid took so good care of me when I was there! I got home with renewed energy and inspiration.
I think the mentor-mentee visit is a great opportunity for us young investigators to be able to go and visit other recruiting centers within the FORTEe trial. I think it helps us strengthen the bond between the different centers, which I think is important when we work with partners that are located so far away from each other. I think the money and time we spend on these trips will pay off both during the FORTEe project, but hopefully also help us collaborate in making other great research projects within pediatric exercise oncology in the future. “

Thank you, Emma, for sharing your experience with us! Together we #GetStrongToFightChildhoodCancer!

We have just had the incredible opportunity to present FORTEe at the 55th Annual Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology – SIOP in Ottawa, Canada. Dennis Wilke shared the first promising results of his qualitative research within Work Package 2 (WP2), focusing on childhood cancer patients’ experiences with a structured exercise programme. All patients participating in the interventions reported predominantly positive effects on their overall well-being, endurance, fitness, and body awareness!

On 6th October 2023, FORTEe’s Steering Committee (SC) came together online via Zoom for status updates on the clinical trial, patient recruitment, the biomarker subproject, data analysis, first results, dissemination and communication efforts, and the overall progress in all work packages. We also discussed important ethics and risk monitoring topics. Go team!

The award-winning Contact magazine is a free quarterly magazine for families of children and young people with cancer by the Children’s Cancer and Leukaemia Group (CCLG).

Dr. Peter Wright, Hayley Marriot and Dr. Alba Solera-Sanchez, researchers and FORTEe consortium partners at the Oxfoord Brookes University, explain the benefits of staying physically active during and after treatment of children and young people with cancer.

Download your issue of Contact magazine – Keeping active here! Check out the article about FORTEe on pages 8 and 9! | Issue 99 – Summer 2023

It’s European week against cancer! This May 30th is all about patients & survivors. The perfect opportunity to introduce you to the FORTEe App, a playful educational game app for childhood cancer patients.

You can download the FORTEe Get Strong app from both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store!

Developed by our partners NUROGAMES and UMCMainz.

Special thanks go to Network ActivOncoKids and FORTEe partner UKESSEN for the exercise videos!

The FORTEe GA meeting was a great success, with over 40 delegates discussing scientific progress and reaching important decisions👏🏻✨

In April and May 2023, FORTEe members have participated at a number of scientific conferences:

• 17-20. April: 2nd Fit4Kid International Scientific Conference 2023 in Portoroz; Slovenia. During Barbara Konda’s talk (FORMA3D), William Zardo (member of MBBM) presented FORTEe!
• 20. April: 2nd Pediatric Exercise Oncology Congress (virtual). Elias Dreismickenbecker (UMC-Mainz) showcased the FORTEe project.
• 8-12. May: 4th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Oncology in Valencia, Spain.

📢Let´s fight #childhoodcancer! We were delighted to meet you at the 4th FORTEe Steering Committee Meeting for the first time in person!😍 Thanks to all FORTEe partners for the lively discussions and your efforts to make this project so powerful🚀
#h2020 #hadea #ai #avatar #sportmotivation #sporttherapy

Let’s shine GOLD ✨🎗️on our young heros in #childhoodcancerawarenessmonth and get strong to fight #ChildhoodCancer with our #FORTEe trainers🦸🦸

#childrenwithcancer#getstrongtofightchildhoodcancer#exercise🏃🏋️⛹️
#goldseptember
#gold4hope🎗

🎉Welcome to our 2nd GA Meeting! We are glad to meet all of you 😍 again and happy to see the progress of the clinical trial, that is in the focus 👀 today. 💪
#PediatricExerciseTherapy 🤸‍♂️ #excercisetherapy🏃 #excercisetraining #sportstherapy 🚴‍♀️ #paediatricphysiotherapy 🤾‍♀️ #paediatricexercisetherapy #fortee_project #EU #hadea #h2020

You can now access a web and a print version of the project’s info brochure with the most important facts of FORTEe and how to exercise and innovative therapy can improve Quality of Life of children with cancer.

We had our 2nd Steering Committee Meeting today! 🎉 So great to see the progress we are making! We are getting stronger and stronger! 💪🏻🤛🏻#fortee_project #childhoodcancer #exerciseoncology #pediatricexercises #eu #horizon_2020

Getting fit to fight cancer!

If you want to find out more about the FORTEe project, take a look at this new Horizon Magazine article or visit us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Our Scientific Coordinators Dr. Sportwiss. Sandra Stössel and Dr. med. Marie A. Neu presented the FORTEe project at the 2^nd Annual Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Oncology during the I-BMF SCT Committee Sessions, chaired by Prof. Adriana Balduzzi.

The FORTEe Kick-off-Meeting took place virtually on the 24th and 25th of March. According to the agenda the objectives, work packages, and timeline have been discussed, further steps planned, and all partners got prepared to fight childhood cancer. For more impressions of the virtual meeting follow us on Instagram.

The 5½-year-long EU-funded FORTEe project kicked off today and the fight against childhood cancer went into a new round! Sixteen partners join forces to evaluate a personalised and standardised exercise therapy for children and adolescents undergoing anti-cancer-treatment. Such treatments have proven very successful in adults, but have yet to be adapted for young patients. Through development and use of innovative digital technologies such as augmented reality for more effective, age-appropriate, and personalised exercise training, FORTEe strives to improve this situation, and to implement paediatric exercise therapy as an evidence-based standard in the EU.