Clifton Park Instructor Strengthening Pediatric Cancer Patients

You learn in karate how to fight with punches and kicks but a local karate school owner is teaching those skills to children fighting a different fight- one for their lives.

Russ Jarem owns U.S. Budokai Karate of Clifton Park, but one day a week for the last 12 years, he also teaches somewhere else, Albany Medical Center. Jarem is the creator of the Brave Belts program to teach children in the Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorder unit at Albany Medical Center some karate, according to Spectrum News.

These children are already fighting for their lives, Jarem hopes this makes their experience just a bit easier. According to one student, a 13-year-old from Troy named Ryan Cowan, he said the karate helped him find "strength in the weakest moments" and he's now in remission. Cowan and his mother thank the karate instruction for being on of the main reasons Ryan had his strength back.