Hi All, I have returned from Victory Junction Camp in Randleman, North Carolina. I was one of the volunteer camp counselors for our Transverse Myelitis family week that the Nascar Petty family has promised to sponsor once every two years for our kids. (I have been home and back to work for a week, but it took me this long to recover from jet lag.)
What a wonderful camp experience for all the young kids with transverse myelitis, ADEM and NMO to meet other kids and form lifelong friendships! We watched these quadriplegic and paraplegic kids experience horseback riding, archery, fishing, bowling, pampering themselves with pink/purple/green hair and fingernails in the Fab Shop, ride in hot air balloons! This camp was provided to the kids, siblings and parents totally free of charge! They had cabins to sleep in, lots of good food (and NOT so nutritious food like Krispy Kreme donuts hand dunked, slurpies, ice cream, popcorn) to eat, they had a stage night where the kids made up their own little shows and performed for all of us on the big stage. There is a totally accessible water park for the kids to play in - the swimming pool has "shoreline" so the kids can be wheeled in onto special floating lounges - motorcycles that squirt water at each other, a cool waterslide - one night we had the Cucumber 500, where everybody sculpted a cucumber into a floating vessel, then we raced them in the "river" portion of the pool to see whose "cucumber boats" would cross the finish line first (or sink halfway through). My husband Michael got to go with me for his first time, and he was in charge of helping bait the hooks, take the fish off the hooks, holding the fishies so the kids could kiss them before throwing them back in the lake. I was in charge of the arts and crafts with another member of our list, who I finally had the pleasure of meeting for the first time, after corresponding with her over the past few years (Sue, I will have pictures downloaded from my computer to send you hopefully this week). We helped the kids do bead projects, plaster casts of their hands (not too successful), spin-art painting, scrapbooks). They also had the opportunity to do wood-burning projects, paint wood crafts, etc. Did I mention the maze that they got to get lost in, and every night the counselors would move the gates to change the maze, so they could get lost all over again the next day? What was so cool about the camp was that there were adults with TM there, who had come to volunteer their time with the kids. I think that this was cool, because the parents (as well as the kids) could see that life does go on, and we can all lead productive lives, even though TM has come to live with us permanently. Did I mention the totally handicapped-accessible treehouse with an accessible bathroom at the top? Also an indoor baseball diamond in the sports arena, and an indoor gym with basketball court, pool tables, video games. Oh, and I also forgot to mention that we had a Nascar pit crew join us for dinner one evening, then show us with a real live race car how fast they could service the car when it screams into the pit for tire changes! The two crews had contests to see which crew was fastest. After the contests, they invited the kids to come up and change the tires, using the air wrenches to remove the nuts and replace them. Also, in Adam's race shop, there are real race cars that the kids can slide into, then drive with computer-simulated racetracks. There are more video games at this camp than you could ever imagine. I know I am missing some of the stuff they can do during their week at camp. Drs. Doug Kerr (from the Johns Hopkins TM Center), Ben Greenberg (from the Southwest Texas TM Center), Adam Kaplin (psychiatrist from the Johns Hopkins TM Center) and Frank Pidcock (pediatric physical/rehab medicine at Kennedy Krieger, specializing in TM) all attended with their families, and provided one-on-one consultations/counseling/evaluations with each and every family affected by TM, ADEM and NMO. I came home with renewed energy and hope for all of us that TM is not going to get the better of me, and I will become more pro-active in my own care, and more productive for these kids' futures. By the way, Cole and his family were also there and Cole had the time of his life! He must caught at least a dozen fish at the lake! Also, some of the families are so financially strapped that they could not even afford the trip to get to the camp. That is the only expense they need to bear for this opportunity. We have had some very generous TMA members who have donated money solely for these kids and their families to get to the camp. Because of these donations, one family was able to drive to camp because we paid for them to rent a car (Mom's car was too old to make the trip), a few families were able to come because their flights were paid for by these generous donations. If you would like to help make these trips possible for future campers, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to the TMA and make sure that you state in the memo portion that it is "for the children's camp". Thank you to all of you volunteers who came to the camp. I hope that you had as wonderful an experience as I did. Also, thank you to the families who brought your kids to camp. You helped us all have an amazing experience! I also enjoy seeing the kids growing up. The first time we had a Children's and Family week was in 2002. The kids were so young and so little. Especially seeing Rachel turning into a very active young lady, and her brothers Kevin and Matthew really tall and handsome teenagers warms my heart. Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to read through my entire email. Take care, Debbie dca...@earthlink.net
