I spent last week as a counselor at Camp Kemo, a week-long camp for kids that have cancer. The ages of the kids range from 5 to 18 years old. I am in the Wolfpack, which is the name of the teenage group. This was my seventh year volunteering as a counselor. I started back in 2001 when a good friend of mine asked if I wanted to fill in as a last minute replacement and they haven’t been able to get rid of me since.

When people hear about a cancer camp, they often ask, “what sort of activities can you do with a group of sick kids?” What is so amazing and powerful about this week at camp is that it gives these kids a chance to have fun and do activities that healthy kids their age have a chance to do. We do activities that any “normal” camp would do: arts and crafts, swimming, woodworking climbing walls, sports, card games, and on and on. There is even a carnival and a dance.

Because of the chemotherapy and other treatment, many of the children are stuck in the hospital or at home and are too sick or tired to do anything. When you ask the kids what the hardest thing is about having cancer, most of them say that it’s the isolation from their friends and being treated differently because they have cancer. Camp gives them a chance to be normal and to be around kids that are going through the same thing they are.

From my perspective, seeing how positive and cheerful these kids are despite the suffering they have to endure truly is a motivating force. I mean, how can I possibly complain about exercising or getting up for work when some of these kids have metal rods in their backs, have lost a leg or some internal organ and yet they still have a smile on their face all the time? Talk about a reality check…

I hope to stay involved with Camp Kemo for a long, long time. It is definitely the single most rewarding experience of the year for me.