Camp gives kids with illness a chance to be just kids
BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER | jennifer.kelleher@newsday.com
July 26, 2008
Ynez Brooks never felt comfortable with the idea of going to a sleep-away camp. The 12-year-old Mastic girl has kidney disease and takes four medications daily.
"A lot of camps aren't prepared for the what-ifs," said her mother, Linda Serrano.
But on Friday Ynez returned home after two weeks at a camp in the Catskills, where she went rock-climbing and roasted marshmallows over a fire.
"It's really fun," she said after arriving on Long Island on a bus with other campers. "You have nothing to worry about there."
Since 1975, the Frost Valley YMCA camp has included children undergoing treatment for kidney disease, some who have received transplants. Organizers believe it's the only sleep-away camp in the country where kidney patients are in the mix with other campers.There's a dialysis center on-site and doctors and nurses equipped with GPS have been known to follow children on hikes to check vitals or dispense medication.
But mostly, camp is meant to give kidney patients a summer memory that's not focused on the worries that come with rigorous treatment regimens, said Bob Eddings, a Shirley native who is the camp's director of youth and camping services.
"We want them to have the feeling that they're at camp like every other camper," he said.
Carol Evans of Bay Shore said knowing there's medical staff at the camp puts her at ease. Her son, Keyshawn, 10, has gone to the camp for the past two years.
Keyshawn, whose kidney disease requires that he takes medication each morning and night, said his favorite camp activities are the chants and swimming in the lake. "You can see salamanders," he said.
Thanks to the Ruth Gottscho Kidney Foundation, campers attend for free. "The reality is if a child is going through all these medical issues, they don't have the financial means," Eddings said.
This was the longest time Ynez has spent away from home. "The first two days it was scary because you get homesick," she said. "But the rest goes by quickly because it's so fun."
