Camp Sunshine Dreams will forever have a special place in my heart. It is a camp at Huntington Lake for kids with cancer and their siblings. There are usually about 100 campers from ages 8-15 and about 45 staff members, all volunteer.
I have been attending this camp since I was 12 years old. I am now 18. During this month's session, I was a counselor-in-training.
Camp Sunshine Dreams came into my life during the second year of my chemotherapy treatment for leukemia. I'll never forget the feeling that I had throughout my first week of camp. I couldn't believe that such a wonderful place existed.
It's different to be a kid with cancer. You grow up fast. A cancer kid is faced with issues that most adults can't handle. There's a lot of intense pain, both physically and emotionally. The worst part about it is that nobody on the outside, including friends and family, quite understands what a cancer kid really has to deal with. But at Camp Sunshine Dreams, everyone understands what a cancer kid has to deal with.
The campers, the counselors and the staff come from very different walks of life, but everyone has a special, common bond and that is that each has had his or her life touched by cancer.
Spirit Stick
Cancer takes away a part of a kid's childhood. In a way, the week at camp makes up for that. There are several fun activities including arts and crafts, archery, waterfront, boating, music and sports. There is also a movie night, a camp dance and several campfires.
Without a doubt, the highlight of Camp Sunshine Dreams is Spirit Stick.
A stick is collected by the campers in each cabin, which becomes their group's Spirit Stick. During the week, each cabin group has a designated time that they set aside to have a Spirit Stick session. The campers and counselors each get a chance during this special time to carve the stick while talking about their personal experiences with cancer and share the feelings that they have.
The shavings go into a bandanna. That, along with the remaining Spirit Stick, is thrown into flames of the last campfire. When the last campfire is extinguished, the ashes are collected and safely stored in a large jar all year. The next year at camp, the ashes are thrown into the flames of the first campfire.
This is how the spirit of each camper, and everyone who has ever been at Camp Sunshine Dreams lives on through each year of camp. This is especially important at our camp because, unfortunately, sometimes we do have campers that don't make it back.
Spirit Stick campfire is much more than a tradition. After we have had an absolute blast participating in our favorite camp songs and watching or performing lots of hilarious skits, the reason behind why we are all there together becomes clear.
Tested by fire
As each cabin group rises from the bleachers and circles close around the fire, they throw the wooden stick shavings in the flames. This is the time when campers can share anything they wish, whether it be about camp, cancer or both. The things that I have heard expressed at this campfire are the most beautiful things that I have ever heard in my life. The feelings are so pure and true.
There are often many tears and sobs and the tissues are thrown into the burning flames. I'll never forget watching the face of a little 8-year-old boy as the firelight illuminated his face. He was standing there, with his little face scrunched up, tears streaming down his cheeks. It's not fair for any little boy like him to have something to cry so hard about.
My heart broke for him, as it does for all of the kids. I know that all of those tears were an outward expression of his grief for the many shots, spinals, bone marrows, pills, IVs, blood transfusions, surgeries, days and nights in the hospital, baldness, feeling different, alone and left out.
I'm years out of chemotherapy treatment and I still have scars that live inside of me from that experience. Those scars will never go away. These kids hold all of those feelings inside of them all year long, and this is their time to let them out. They don't have to do it alone, either. They have the company of Camp Sunshine Dreams by their side.
Camp Sunshine Dreams to me is much more than a camp. It is a celebration of life, with phenomenal kids, and incredible people who don't take a moment of life for granted.
Chelsea Harkness, 18, a graduate of Bullard High School, now attends Fresno City College.