Faculty Spotlight

Dream Bigger

James Orrigo ’09

James Orrigo ’09 and his team specialize in bringing innovation and creative thinking to the table to help pediatric cancer patients to dream big. James’ “Big Dreams” program works with Children’s Cancer Research Fund to bring joy and preserve the legacies of pediatric cancer patients all over the globe. His unique programming even won Zoom’s ‘Overall Innovation Award’ 2020.

We had the opportunity to sit down with James and hear a bit about his origin story and get a glimpse into the exciting and important work he gets to do each day. Where did it all begin?

“One night when I was in high school I said a prayer,” he recalls. “I asked: How can I use my life to help others? I feel as if I’m just going through the motions. Literally, the next day, boom, boom; two hits to the head.”

James suffered a severe brain injury after receiving two back to back hits to the head during a lacrosse game. His purpose, his passion, had been lacrosse. Now he was faced with having to relearn basic skills. Trying to help him find his way, his mother suggested studying guitar with a neighbor. It worked. He wrote a silly song called “Boat Shoes” and the rest just seemed to fall into place.

“I realized I could use music to do some real good.”

Throughout high school and college, James walked alongside his mother as she faced a difficult battle with terminal cancer. His experience with her in the hospital deepened his conviction that he was doing something important. “I saw kids in the pediatric oncology units. They were often very sick, but they still had the capacity to light up with joy.”

James has an intuitive sense of how to connect with children. He is incredibly good at it, even with patients who have withdrawn under the pressure of their lives in the oncology unit.

After graduating college, James and his wife, Kristin, started an interactive children’s hospital program to continue helping these incredible young patients to dream big. Before long, his program began to grow and children’s hospitals across the nation were requesting that it be brought into their units. Big names like Patch Adams and companies such as Google were sending support. Google agreed to sponsor a summer long, nationwide children’s hospital tour. Orrigo and his wife, who is a nurse, travelled coast to coast and brought smiles through music, animation and film to children in hospitals across the country.

After witnessing the program first hand, a child life specialist from Albuquerque, New Mexico commented, “This was so miraculous, the child was so quiet and so closed-off, and by the end you had him writing a song and illustrating it and just having a ball. Thank you, thank you, it was magical and we got to really see it right in front of our very eyes.”

Even after the summer tour concluded, Orrigo continued to travel and work with pediatric patients to help them create accessible video games, cartoon music videos, large scale productions and much more. The end goal was to bring their imaginations to life.

Orrigo has an intuitive sense of how to connect with patients. He is incredibly good at it, even with children who have withdrawn under the pressure of their battles in the oncology units.

“Sometimes I have less than an hour with a patient,” he says, “but that’s enough time to write a song together about anything they want, the crazier the better. Living as a zebra. Yellow Lamborghinis. Roller skating down a rainbow. The children get so caught up in what they are creating.” One little girl said, “Mom, I want to stand up.” She was in a wheelchair and hadn’t stood in months, but she stood up then.”

Then the pandemic struck. James had been going everywhere, but now traveling had to stop. If you think that slowed James down even a bit, you haven’t been paying attention. The Big Dreams program pivoted to a virtual platform in ways that were innovative and astoundingly successful.

Today, James meets with pediatric patients over zoom and virtual reality to help them create more immersive cartoon productions than had been possible before. Children’s Cancer

James speaking to college students in preparation for their volunteer experience with the bridging room project.

Pediatric cancer warrior Ke’yair, arrives in a yellow Lamborghini

Virtual Camp Norden: virtual reality summer camp Research Fund enabled James to equip every child participant with an Oculus Quest headset. Orrigo’s team has grown into a worldwide network of animators, musicians, engineers, and editors that work around the clock to get the child their own personalized video as quickly as possible. The Big Dreams Virtual Tour made such a positive impact that it was even the Winner of Zoom’s Overall Innovation Award for 2020.

Thanks to Children’s Cancer Research Fund, Orrigo and his team were able to facilitate a four-day virtual camp for pediatric cancer patients this summer. “It was just so special to be able to bring these fighters together. They understood each other at such a deep level and were able to connect and have a ton of fun while doing it. By the end of the week no one wanted it to end!” The camp was so much fun that they felt as if they broke through the screen. In the words of one camper, “I can’t believe it, you all actually made zoom fun!” minutes of a healthy kid’s life. The composure of Gavin the Great in a magician’s top hat explaining what it’s like to be him. “Kids shouldn’t have to be this brave,” James says. “Some of them want to do a video not for themselves, but to cheer up other patients.” Some of the kids James has worked with have passed on. This makes him acutely aware that one of the enduring purposes of every production is its legacy value.

Pediatric patient Kimber virtually met with fellow campers

“There’s one father who listens to his daughter’s video first thing every morning just so he will never forget the sound of her voice,” he says. “I understand that at a personal level. When my mother died, I wished I had more recordings of her voice. That was the catalyst for all of this.”

Orrigo has also created a program to bridge hospital rooms with classrooms in order to give young patients access to a school experience, promote social and emotional learning in students, and to raise pediatric cancer awareness. The most recent Bridging Rooms Project was in October of this year and was an event for a young boy named Ke’yair who is fighting osteosarcoma. The entire Rutger’s University marching band learned Ke’yair’s song and surprised him with the performance on their football field, where he arrived in a convertible yellow Lamborghini.

You can see a wide selection of videos on YouTube and elsewhere. As technically and artistically impressive as they are, they are mainly about feelings. A little girl’s joy and pride in her creativity. The look on a parent’s face as he watches his son enjoy a few How does he bear up under all this tragedy?

“A one-word answer,” he says “Faith.”

His ultimate plan?

“If you set your goal and it revolves around doing good for someone else, you can’t fail.”

James lives on the coast of Maine with his wife, two kids and Bernese Mountain Dog. They hope to always encourage big dreams in each other and in their kids. If you want to get involved or see more about this exciting work you can follow @ladinabattle on Instagram or Facebook.