Monday, August 19, 2013
Good morning ,
Each year I spend a week of my vacation volunteering as a camp counselor at an amazing place called Camp Oasis. Camp Oasis is a camp for kids ages 6 to 17 who suffer from Crohn’s Disease. I myself was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease when I was 17 years old and have battled with the disease for many decades, so I have been attending camp for several years as a way to try and help give back as well as teach the kids that you can live with the disease and lead a fairly normal life, have a family, career and do whatever you want without letting the limits of the disease get in your way. 95% of the counselors at the camp also suffer from Crohn’s Disease, or have a family member or loved one who suffers from the disease, so we all bond together to do what we can “for the kids”.
Crohn’s Disease isn’t a sexy disease. As a matter of fact, it is a very private disease that most people don’t talk about. At camp, there are no stupid questions, no boundaries with regards to the disease and everyone talks about their issues, openly, every day. It is a safe place for the youngest camper at 6 years old, to the oldest camper at 17. No one is embarrassed, or afraid because everyone is dealing with the same thing at some point in their day to day lives and experiences.
I go to camp every year expecting to teach these kids lessons that I have learned along the way of how to deal with this disease. How to manage the pain without complaining, continuing infusion treatments every 6 weeks as a normal routine, talking monthly shots because you have to be able to survive. What I come away with is lessons from the campers. Lessons of courage. Watching a 6 year old girl sit at the breakfast, lunch and the dinner table and not eat while everyone else is because she associates food with pain, but before she goes to bed, she inserts a tube up her nose and to her stomach so she can be fed while she sleeps to receive the nutrition she needs. COURAGE. Helping a 15 year old finish her very first time on the zip line and as I helped her down I asked her, “was this yourfirst time zip lining”?, an d she responding, “yes, but I felt so close to my dad and I know he was up there watching me” and I said “when did you loose your dad”?, and she responded “last week, but he really wanted me to come to camp and it’s my first time to camp too, so I hope he is looking down on me”, and with a lump in my throat I said “I’m sure he is, and I’m sure he is very proud of you”. COURAGE. Helping a 17 year old put liquid nutrition in the stint in her stomach so she gets the nutrition needed because she can’t hold down most of her food. COURAGE. Listening to the 17 year old young man talk about what camp means to him a year after being diagnosed with Crohn’s and having other kids he can talk to that “get him”. COURAGE. A 17 year old young camper has been coming to camp for several years and last year her little sister was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and was with her at camp this year. Her sister is 6, she was frightened, on steroids and her face was like a chipmunks (a side effect of the steroids.) Her big sister said she would be there for her, and was. COURAGE.
I go each year expecting to teach, and I come away learning. This is their way of life, and they are so excited to be at camp with friends that are “just like them”.
Dance Like No One Is Watching, Sing Like No One is Listening, and Love Like You Will Never Get Hurt; that is the courage that these young kids and teenagers extend to their everyday lives. We should all learn from them, I know I have.
Make it a great day!