by Galen Gregory

Created on: March 15, 2009

Ahhh, summer camp! Roasting marshmallows around the campfire, sleeping under the stars, learning how to paddle a canoe or ride a horse, putting on silly skits and playing tricks on the counselors, challenging yourself on the ropes course, making new friends. If you went to camp as a kid, you probably can remember the sense of excitement and adventure, the heady thrill of being on your own, the feeling of a special camaraderie.

So imagine what camp can mean to a child with a chronic illness, such as cancer, sickle cell, diabetes, epilepsy, HIV, burns, or muscular dystrophy. For kids who spend so much of their time in hospitals, enduring often painful treatments, it's a chance to be a kid.

But there are additional benefits. In a camp session designed for a group of kids with the same medical condition, the child no longer feels different. At school, she may be known as "the kid with cancer," but at camp she's just one of the gang. She's among other kids who understand. Often some of the counselors have or have had the same medical problem, so they can offer even more support.

Many organizations that sponsor disability-specific camps use the opportunity to educate the young campers about their condition and taking care of themselves. For example, at a camp for young diabetics, the medical staff may teach the campers about giving themselves injections and making good food choices, in between the usual camp activities. Hopefully, when the children associate the teaching with the positive experience of being at camp, they will have more positive attitudes about managing their illness.

Camps for kids with physical disabilities have been in existence since the early 1950s, originally created for the young victims of the polio epidemic and often sponsored by service organizations like the Lions Club and Elks. Camps for children with chronic medical conditions began to develop in the late 1960s. They are usually sponsored by local chapters of support groups and by children's medical centers. For many years, these organizations had to rent an existing camp for their one week session every summer, but the camp facilities had, of course, not been designed for accessibility or to accommodate medical care.

Now there is a new generation of camps, started in the late 1980s, which were designed from the ground up for children with special medical needs. The most famous, perhaps, are the Hole in the Wall Camps, created by the late Paul Newman, but there are other outstanding camps throughout the country, including Camp John Marc in Texas. These camp sites have been carefully planned for the kids who will attend. There are swimming pools which are heated and have a beach entry, the facilities are wheelchair accessible, there is a fully equipped medical facility for treatments. The camps offer dynamic programs, including campouts, kayaking, photography, horseback riding, pottery, canoeing, nature activities, challenge course, painting, and fishing. During the fall and spring, many of them offer family camps, so the whole family can have fun together and the parents can meet other parents who share their experiences.

These camps fill a tremendous need. While these children receive excellent medical care at hospitals, camp can heal their spirit.

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