INDIANAPOLIS — In the basement at University Hospital you'll find the Linear Accelerator room.
Dedicated, mostly, to cancer patients who are receiving radiation therapy.
The machine is massive, and can be intimating for people. Especially to children.
Riley Hospital for Children patients come over to University Hospital for the treatment.
WATCH: How does radiation work?
For Mercy Labate, 6, it's a time she looks forward to daily.
The treatment for patients is Monday through Friday for weeks to even months at a time.
For Mercy, hers will last 2.5 weeks.
"It certainly can be very scary for kids even just to go to the doctor let alone to come to a room where there's lots of people that you don't know and a big scary machine every day for many weeks," Dr. Jordan Holmes a Physicians Radiation Oncology doctor for IU Health said.
Mercy looks forward to treatment because she gets to watch her favorite show, Bluey.
Riley uses a system called Audio-Visual Assisted Therapeutic Ambience in Radiotherapy (AVATAR) to help patients get through treatment easier.
WATCH: How does Avatar work?
Essentially, it's a small projector that streams videos for kids to watch.
The whole point of AVATAR is to distract the kids so much, they don't need general anesthesia. Which can take a toll on somebody's body.
"Mercy is right in the age group where she may be able to do this treatment without any help with anesthesia or the avatar, but could potentially struggle with having to be in the room by herself with this big scary machine for 15 or 20 minutes," Dr. Holmes said.
It's tough for anyone to go through medical treatment, especially kids.
Distracting children undergoing radiation is a big priority at Riley Hospital for Children.
Mercy has stage 4 Neuroblastoma, a type of cancer in nerve cells commonly found in adrenal glands. It's also spread to her lungs.
Her radiation treatment is her final step in her medical plan for now.
She's been responding to treatment, she's had multiple rounds of chemo, two stem cell transplants, and now radiation.
But through the entire treatment Mercy has a smile on her face.
The spunky 6-year-old laughed and giggled as she had a mini dance party before her treatment started.
She also is looking forward to life after treatment.
The treatments only last about 15 to 20 minutes and with her able to stay awake she can go about her day as normal as possible.
"I wouldn't change anything you know and it sounds crazy but this has brought our family closer together," Sierra Labate, Mercy's mom said.
AVATAR treatmetns have been very successful for patients all across the country.
A 2023 Stanford-led study showed 78% of children, ages 3-10, who used AVATAR, were able to avoid sedation.
Another neat took Riley has implemented for patients with brain cancer is a custom mask.
Patients who need radiation treatment to their brain have to wear the mask to stabilize their heads.
Riley has worked with an artist to make those masks fun and themed with kids helping design them.
