NEWS

Camps Bring Adventure To Children With Cancer

Mike Miller

With outpatient cancer care becoming more commonplace, many adults with cancer get the chance to lead a more normal life than one of intensive hospitalization. But what about children with cancer who do not often get the chance to run and play like their peers because of their compromised immune systems and often intensive chemotherapy regimens? In the past few decades, a nationwide coalition of cancer camps has turned hurdles into minor speed bumps and allowed thousands of children with cancer to experience the joys of summer camp.

A camp in Florida run by the American Cancer Society was probably one of the first camps for kids with cancer, said Brian Crater, interim president of Children’s Oncology Camps of America (COCA). Since then, a coalition of 76 camps has been formed under COCA to network for common ideas and provide resources for those who want to start their own camps.

Crater added that COCA’s biggest mission is providing education for volunteers about medical issues and other concerns. This education is becoming more important as the demand for trained counselors grows and as the camps branch off into year-round activities.

One such enterprise that has grown by leaps and bounds since the 1980s is Special Love, which runs year-round programs for kids with cancer. Such programs include weekend activities for cancer patients and their best friends, forums for families of children with cancer to interact, and organized outings to sports events. Special Love’s centerpiece program is its summer camp, which it hosts at a 4H Center in Front Royal, Va. David Smith has been the director of the camp, Camp Fantastic, for the past 5 years and executive director of Special Love for more than 13 years.



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Horseback riding is one of many activities for children who go to Camp Fantastic in Front Royal, Va. The camp started in the early 1980s, and it runs for 1 week each summer.

 
"Our basic program is based on the 4H camping formula, and different ideas and programs have evolved over the years," said Smith. "The kids for the most part don’t feel sick, so there’s no point in treating them that way," he added.

Camp Fantastic was one of only three cancer camps in the country when it started in the early 1980s, said Laura Cain, head administrator for the camp. "Kids would rather go through chemo in camp than anywhere else," she said. " It’s the one place where it makes them feel more normal and [allows them to] play like kids." She added that it gives them a chance to get away from parents (and also gives parents a break from sometimes difficult daily regimens) and pick their own classes and activities. From 112 applicants this year, they accepted 93 campers who were assisted by 61 trained counselors, 51 of whom were able to provide medical support and first aid if necessary.

Tom Baker founded Camp Fantastic after his daughter died of cancer and his wife read an article about a cancer camp in New York. After the Bakers visited the camp in New York and talked with Phil Pizzo, M.D., who was then the head of the pediatric oncology branch at the National Cancer Institute, they formed an unofficial partnership with the National Institutes of Health and the 4H center and started Camp Fantastic. As a measure of the camp’s growth and success, Baker notes that this year alone he has received requests from more than 700 people who want to volunteer to help with camp activities and he has had to turn some of them down.

"Just being in the same room with some of the same problems that other kids with cancer have is one of the main benefits of our camp," said Baker. He notes that part of their success can be measured by the fact that they have about a dozen counselors who are ex-campers. "A lot of our kids keep in touch with friends they bunked with 10 to 15 years ago and we’ve even had a number of our campers from our first year come back and visit, which is truly heartening," he said.

In an effort to put together a more diverse camping environment, Smith gets together with his colleagues at COCA annually to discuss common problems and concerns that come up at most cancer camps. Occasionally camps will refer campers and qualified counselors to other camps. Visiting other cancer camps is one of the more illuminating aspects of his membership in COCA, he said. "We went to a camp in Canada and got some great ideas, such as our Bonkers night (where everything is done backward), from them and they got all sorts of great camp songs from us."

Although Camp Fantastic runs just one week, other COCA camps with larger population bases from which to draw run many sessions throughout the summer. Some camps also allow siblings to attend, which fills the camps up very quickly and makes for a somewhat different camp environment. "Our biggest joy is that our camps help foster relationship building that begins at camp and goes on for many years beyond that," Crater said.



             
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