Summer Camp: Cancer Can't Stop the Fun

Article date: April 1, 2008

Like swallows to Capistrano, each year American schoolchildren flock to sleep-away camps around the country, ready for swimming, horseback riding, campfire songs, and s'mores. Camps are the places summer memories -- and lifelong friends -- are made, the places that feed that old back-to-school standby, "What I Did on My Summer Vacation."

For way too many years, however, children with cancer and other serious diseases were denied their fun in the summer camp sun, either because of ongoing medical treatment, misplaced fears, or lack of resources. For more than 30 years, your American Cancer Society has been working to change that picture, one thrilled child and proud family at a time.

'The Best Part About Camp …'

Since 1976, when Camp R.O.C.K. opened in Eustis, Florida, about 40 miles northwest of Orlando, the American Cancer Society camp program has grown tremendously. Today, ACS supports more than 45 camps in every region of the country -- there are even 3 camps in Hawaii. Thanks to loyal donors and volunteer staffers, ACS summer camps are offered free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis.

Eligibility requirements vary from camp to camp, but participation in a summer camp program is generally open to children currently undergoing treatment, to those who have finished it, and often to the well brothers and sisters of a sibling with cancer. This summer, approximately 5,000 children and teens are expected to take part in an ACS summer camp program, according to Camp Center of Excellence staff member Deb Dillingham. Staffed by pediatric oncologists and nurses to attend to the children's needs, these programs provide a place for children in treatment or remission to become kids again through the summer camp experience. The camps also allow the children to see they are not alone in their struggle and provide peer support for everyone involved.

"The best part about camp was going down the big waterslide!" said Jeremy Matlock, a 10-year-old survivor of T-cell lymphoma, about his experience at Mississippi's Camp Rainbow. "I like being around a lot of kids, and it's fun getting away from home. I'm coming back next year."

The best part about camp for Hailey Rago, now 16, was finding a group of friends who were 'different' in just the same way as she.

Hailey, who was diagnosed at age 9 with medulloblastoma, a type of brain tumor, underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy that left her weak, listless, and not wanting to do much, according to her mother, Lisa Rago, of Wichita, Kansas.

"She couldn't communicate well with her friends," said Mrs. Rago. Even though several of Hailey's friends lived nearby and wanted to help, she said, they "just didn't know what to do."

Hailey found it much easier to talk about her cancer with the friends she made at Camp Hope near Claflin, Kansas -- friendships she nurtured upon returning year after year. "Hailey's really gotten close to the girls in her cabin that are her age," her mother said. "The children form friendships that go way beyond camp."

Hailey thinks she knows why this is.

"Camp Hope means getting together with a lot of other people who don't think you're weird," she explained. "They're different themselves."

'The Nurses Were Wonderful…'

Sending a child with cancer to a weeklong overnight camp can be an adventure for the parents as well.

At the urging of her son's cancer doctor and medical staff, a very nervous Dee McGory, of Ohio, agreed to let 7-year-old Bradley attend camp. Bradley had been diagnosed 3 years earlier with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and although he is now in remission, at the time he was still on medication, and was still feeling its side effects.

"I was frantic, seeing Bradley off for a whole week, and wanted to hide in the weeds and watch him," his mom remembers. "But the nurses were wonderful, and would call me every other day and tell me how he was doing."

'For Me, It's Entirely Selfish …'

Day-to-day activities at an ACS summer camp are overseen by medical professionals and ACS staff as well as a host of dedicated volunteers, many of whom are cancer survivors and former campers themselves. It all makes for a warm, understanding – yet fun and cool! – environment where there is nothing weird or different about having cancer or taking medication or being bald.

Mike Underdown is a veteran of Camp Horizon, which opened in 1983 just outside of Nashville, Tenn. He's lost count of how many years he has come to camp as either a camper or counselor, partly because it's become so integrated into his life.

"You'd think [volunteering at camp] was a selfless thing, but for me it's entirely selfish," Underdown said. "It's just so great to be here because everyone here is like family."

If you know of a child who might be interested in attending an ACS-sponsored summer camp, be forewarned that not all of them have finalized their schedules or set registration deadlines yet. Each camp handles things differently, depending on the time and resources of the volunteers they have helping them. For instance, some camps have sophisticated Web sites that allow you to sign up online, while others do not. Similarly, the number of children who can attend each camp session fluctuates from camp to camp and year to year, depending on the amount of donations that come in to fund them. Please verify all information with the Camp Coordinator of the program you are interested in, or call the American Cancer Society anytime, toll-free, at 1-800-ACS-2345. (See sidebar: "1-800-ACS-2345: For Summer Camp, It's Your Call.")

But the most important thing to remember is that summer is just around the corner. Call today to get your child’s name on the list.

 Reviewed by: Members of the ACS Medical Content Staff

ACS News Center stories are provided as a source of cancer-related news and are not intended to be used as press releases.