How Virtual Reality Helped A Nine-Year-Old In Dubai Cope With Chronic Illness

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

Sweat-soaked locks sat limply on his young head as he gritted his teeth, waiting for relief that wouldn't come. At nine, Aggelos Ahuja had been battling the rare auto-immune disease vasculitis for a while.“It causes your body's immune system to attack itself,” says Aggelos, who is now 16.

It affects between 12 to 53 per 100,000 people under 17, according to the Journal of Rheumatic Diseases. And if a bout isn't addressed quickly enough, the inflammation tends to spread to other organs.

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The pain can be brutal.

“Aggelos would get fevers off and on, and we didn't know why that was happening,” says his father, Sonal Ahuja, recalling the peak of Covid, when an episode of vasculitis resulted in Aggelos' month-long hospital stay.

“My lung capacity had gone down to less than 40 per cent of what it should have been,” says Aggelos. And besides fearing how a comorbidity would interact with the virulent virus, they had to contend with the physical trauma of breathing difficulty, cannulas being attached to weak veins, and a rigorous chemo-driven attack plan that would first shut down Aggelos' immune system before it could be built up again.

“Those days were so painful; I kept looking for some reprieve, but none came,” he says.

Then his dad, Sonal Ahuja, who is an architect by profession but a techie by passion, had an idea that would change everything.“He told me to try the virtual world to see if it could distract me during cannulations. And it did, as it brought my mind to a much more peaceful place than a hospital bed,” he recalls.“I was engaged in playing games.”

Afterwards, he asked his father not for more VR games but how he could make them. “He took the sentence literally, and built the lab and VR Academy around it,” he laughs.

Sonal, who is the co-founder of the tech-rich firm alongside Aggelos, calls VR a 'creative tool' and says it not only helps you do things that once seemed impossible – such as painting on a large canvas while on a flight, for example, but it also lets you meet people in three dimensions thanks to its avatar-creating abilities.“You can also touch the other person, feel it through haptics (tech that uses vibrations to simulate the sense of touch),” he adds.

VR Academy is all about the three Cs: connect, create and collaborate.“And that combined with artificial intelligence (AI) is a very powerful tool for education,” he says.

Take, for instance, medical students who can practice complex operations online, without cadavers, or students in remote villages who can use VR to speak and learn from peers who are thousands of miles away.

Today, Aggelos – who still has irregular episodes of vasculitis - is a regular at school and at the VR Academy where he helps in the creation of plans and programmes that resonate with the young.“When I come home every day, I try to finish all school work first to make sure I have more free time for the company and my friends and my family. But honestly, it's just about finding a balance. And it really is fun to manage these different things,” he adds.

The academy also helps him exercise his love for something else: creating things.“I've always really enjoyed making things from a very young age, whether it's puzzles or cooking or building Legos. I just really like bringing things together. I also really enjoy art and game design, which I've done with VR Academy,” he says.

But VR Academy is not a gaming institute, Sonal is quick to point out.“It's a research lab, really. In our lab, we have got some theories about how to do things, but it's more hands-on work. So, we are not a place where you will come to learn software to make a game. Rather, you will learn what makes a game work. It's a combination of art, technology, and design. It's a way to tell a story. And those were the courses that we started. So, arts and graphics with combined with virtual reality became one course. Film development became another course, and then game development became another course. Later on, we added robotics and a specialist in artificial intelligence,” he explains.

More than a gaming institute

Managing expectations is one of the company's biggest challenges, he says.“I think the most important challenge is just to explain that what virtual reality for people really is, it's the same challenge which Meta faced with VR. You know, people think of VR is just a gaming console. And it is so much more than that.”

The academy began with a digital presence.“We saved some money and we got this amazing place set up in Jumeirah; found teachers who knew the tech and could think creatively. Aggelos helped us design the curriculum.” The lab opened in January 2024.

On its website, VR Academy says it caters to people aged eight to 18. However, both Ahujas say that this is a general remit.“There's no upper limit to learning. Our oldest student is 82. Recently, we did a course for Dubai airport architects who wanted to use tech tool. We also work with various universities. We just set up a programme on again, using immersive XR, or extended reality, which is a combination of augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, and AI,” says Sonal.

Tailor made

This is an inclusive learning opportunity that allows young people on the Autism spectrum or with Asperger Syndrome, who are good with numbers, to participate.“I wanted the courses to be inclusive, so that we can create a course which is based upon people's needs and requirements, rather than everybody sitting there like sheep,” says Sonal.“We have a special programme for children with special needs and but with the Emirates Autism Society, and are looking for other collaborations.”

Individual thinking is something he prizes – and during our conversation he often says whether Aggelos wants to be part of a project or not and to what degree he wants to participate is up to him.“It's his wish,” he shrugs.

I wanted the courses to be inclusive, so that we can create a course which is based upon people's needs and requirements, rather than everybody sitting there like sheep"

Sonal Ahuja

Currently, the VR Academy has two important partnerships, with Ministry of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications and Gems schools.

And while the world comes to terms with the fact that the tech is here to stay and some fear it will take over their jobs, Sonal says:“At the end of the day, AI is a dual use technology like fire. Fire was useful for humanity, but you can also burn someone with it, and the same applies to AI and XR. You've got to use it in the right way. And that doesn't mean locking away iPads or screens - because if you lock something away, then children will develop a habit of doing things behind your back. Give them the tech while giving them the skills to tell right from wrong.”

For the Ahuja family, AI offered respite. Now, they want it to offer hope, stoke creativity, and help others find their own map to navigate the digital era.

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