Play Defeats Cancer

Words and Photos by Carson Rich 

The Roc Solid Foundation, an organization created to serve children who are fighting cancer, made a stop in Jacksonville for their “Play Defeats Cancer Tour.” During the tour, volunteers and teams from Roc Solid travel across the country to build custom backyard playsets for children diagnosed with cancer. 

Eric Newman, the founder and chief play officer of Roc Solid, came up with the idea for the tour based on his own history of battling a life-threatening illness. After beating a rare form of liver cancer and seeing loved ones around him suffer, he began to struggle with finding his own purpose in life. This all changed for him once he began sharing his story and realizing that he is not alone in the fight.  

“Everything that you see right now has come from some of the turmoil that was created in my life. With me being a childhood cancer survivor, I know exactly what the kids are going through,” said Newman. “I was a second child, three years old when I was diagnosed. My dad’s sister, a second child, three years old, was diagnosed with leukemia. My dad’s brother, a second child, three years old, was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. So I witnessed play be taken from them as well, and they lost the fight.”

Newman worked previous jobs in construction and even started his own companies, but after an unfortunate series of events caused him to let go of them, he started on his own journey to inspire kids who are going through the same things that brought him here. Combining his knowledge of construction with the passion that he has to brighten children’s lives created the Roc Solid Foundation and most importantly, the “Play Defeats Cancer Tour.”

When asked why Roc Solid specifically chose to build playsets for these children, Newman spoke about the impact that playing outside has had on them as children and why it is so detrimental to have that stripped out from underneath them. “The reason that we built playsets specifically is that the one thing that you and I never had to be taught to do is to play, play is a universal language, play is a gift to the imagination. And once a child is diagnosed with cancer, all of that becomes off limits. Play becomes off limits. See, you and I choose to stop playing, but kids fighting cancer, they don’t have a choice.”

Their stop in Jacksonville served to help 4-year-old Aspen Peterson-Armengol, diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma (ERMS), an aggressive form of childhood cancer. Due to her being immunocompromised, she has not been able to play on public playgrounds since her diagnosis, taking away some of the biggest moments that every child deserves to have at a young age. Building this playset gives her the opportunity to have that experience. Unfortunately, Peterson-Armengol could not be there in person for the reveal of her new playground because she needed emergency surgery, but a heartfelt Facetime call was made later that day, and she was smiling from ear to ear. 

Eric Newman has dedicated everything he has toward the cause, and he feels like now he has finally found his purpose. “This is what I was put here on this earth to do, this is why I still have breath in my lungs … they don’t. So I’m gonna chase this and fight as hard as I can, until every child gets the ability to play,” he said. “It’s bigger than screws. It’s bigger than bolts. It’s bigger than wood. It’s a moment. And that’s what these families yearn for is, like, they want a sense of normal. And so this place provides the emotional support behind it; it gives them a taste of hope.”