Technology Brings School To Sick Children

RoundTable Device Changes Lives Of Seriously Ill Children Confined To Hospitals

(CBS)  A device created for businesses could soon change the lives of children who are chronically or terminally ill and confined to hospitals, and a young boy is helping make this happen.

"It felt like a rollercoaster, 'cause you go up and then you go down," Garrett Schram tells CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras.

The kinds of ups and downs the 13-year-old is talking about aren't what he's used to as an athlete. He's talking about the challenges of Ewing's Sarcoma, an aggressive bone cancer that hits children and teenagers.

"I was too sick to do anything that I used to," Garrett said. "I couldn't skateboard anymore. I couldn't play football anymore -- any of it."

Garrett, who lives in Boise, Idaho, couldn't go to school either after developing the disease last August. That's because the high bursts of radiation and 14 rounds of heavy-dose chemotherapy he received suppressed his immune system. Even the weakest germs could have killed him.

So school came to Garrett. Not only is there a classroom and a full-time teacher at St. Luke's Children's Hospital, there's a unique learning tool. It allowed Garrett to learn right along with his classmates at Sawtooth Middle School, miles away.

A device with tiny cameras pointed in every direction is what made this possible. It's called a RoundTable, and it was initially developed for business video conferences.

The technology provided a real-time video-audio connection between the hospital and Garrett's school. Garrett is the first student in the country to have used it.

Not only did it mean keeping up with lessons and getting good grades …

"It made me feel more normal at times," Garrett said.

It also impressed his classmates.

"It's very exciting and stuff because it's very new technology and it allows Garrett and other kids in hospitals to interact with kids their age," said Garrett's friend Dalton Compton.

But the real value of the technology may be what Garrett's teacher considers its healing power.

"It's keeping him connected to his community, to his peers, and to his teachers has made all the difference in the world," said Garrett's teacher Hayley Welch.

It's a lot simpler for Garrett's dad, who calls his son his champion. The best part of the technology for him?

"Watching him achieve under negative circumstances," Joe Schram said. "Watching him excel because it's changed him dramatically."

And Garrett is helping change long-term hospital stays for children across the country.

"You're going to bring it to the future, huh? For other kids?" Assuras asked Garrett.

"Yeah, that's my goal," Garrett said. "So I hope every kid that is going through this gets to use one."

Dozen more hospitals are ordering RoundTables. Sounds like an A-plus for Garrett Schram.

And thanks to Garrett's success using the RoundTable, Microsoft says it will donate thirty of the devices to hospitals this year.