Summer brings back a flood of memories. For many of us, those memories include going to summer camp! For kids with cancer, a lot of fun, everyday activities have to be cut down or forgotten altogether. Treatment takes a physical and emotional toll on a child and they may not feel up to doing all of the things that they love to do.
Thankfully, many generous, thoughtful organizations across the United States work to give childhood cancer patients and survivors the camp experience. For kids with cancer, a camp or retreat experience can not only help them feel like a normal, fun-loving kid again, but it provides an opportunity to process their situation with people who understand them most.
5 Reasons Kids with Cancer Should Go to Camp
1. Relief from Anxiety
A world defined by hospital stays and medical procedures provokes anxiety. Kids with cancer are likely to develop no small measure of fear about their health and treatment. Not only does a camp provide an outdoor environment that offers a reprieve from both home and hospital environments, but it allows children to interact with others who are going through the same thing. This allows them to openly express their anxieties and fears with those who share them.
2. Learn Coping Skills
Coping with a cancer diagnosis at any age is tough, but it’s particularly hard on children. They do not yet have the mental and emotional development to healthily process what they’re experiencing. In a camp environment with other patients and qualified camp counselors, these kids can better process their emotions like anger, grief, guilt, and fear.
A camp environment allows for comfort, education, and healthy processing of emotions.
3. A Sense of Community
For cancer patients, a sense of community is invaluable. For many, this community comes from rallying friends, family, and community supporters. Others benefit from connecting with other children — both current cancer patients and cancer survivors. These personal connections help children feel less isolated and alone while also normalizing the bodily changes and limitations imposed by cancer treatment.
When kids with cancer can be around others like them, they develop a greater sense of belonging, camaraderie, and normalcy.
4. Therapeutic Environment
Nature is known to be a great therapist. Studies show that “wilderness” therapy can have a profound positive impact on troubled kids and teens. Similarly, time outdoors can relieve symptoms of depression in kids with cancer — along with encouraging much-needed physical activity. The outdoors itself provides the perfect therapeutic environment for important conversations, learning, and healing.
5. Regaining Control
For kids with cancer, much of their agency feels stripped from them. They are unable to partake in all of the activities that they enjoy, eat all of their favorite foods, or socialize when they would like to. It might seem as though their lives are controlled by cancer. Between how the disease makes them feel and honoring appointments for treatment and assessments, kids may feel like they have no choice and no control over their lives.
Camp helps them regain a sense of self while allowing them to choose activities. This is an enormous reprieve from the daily struggle of cancer!
What to Expect at Camp
Camps for kids with cancer come in all different forms. Some follow a more traditional summer camp format while others are weekend retreats and day camps. Many take place during the summer, but you can find camps that operate in all seasons.
Most camps will offer support and care for children with special needs or other accommodations — particularly those related to cancer treatment. Common activities include crafts, swimming, horseback riding, games, and more.
Specialized camps like these are going to have medical staff and equipment on hand to help with any problems. Many counselors will be cancer survivors themselves!
Camps vary, but many will also include things like family weeks, teen-only programs, and options for siblings of kids with cancer. Most will try to make the camp experience no-cost or as low-cost as possible.
Find a Camp in Your Area
The Pediatric Oncology Resource Center has a great list of cancer kid camps. You’ll find a directory by state, including a description of each camp and a link to their website.
Before you sign your child up for a camp experience, be sure to consult their care team. They will help you know what your child’s needs would be throughout a camp experience and if now is a good time for them to attend.
Kicking cancer isn’t just about beating a disease. It’s about improving the daily lives of childhood cancer patients!