Camp Brings Joy to Children With Cancer [Video]

There is a place tucked deep in the middle of the woods, far from the realities of everyday life, where a kid with cancer can be, well…just a kid.

For one week each summer, more than 100 children from Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts attend Camp Rising Sun, an outdoor adventure that includes games, singing, dancing, running, painting, swimming and face-to-face socialization with other children. It’s a place where the motto is “have fun and smile.”

More specifically, says 17-year-old cancer survivor  of Oxford, it is “the greatest place on Earth.”

The camp is free for all participants – funded entirely by donations - and no child with cancer is turned away. This year there are 127 children and 80 counselors, about half of whom are former campers who come back year after year, said Dr. Joe McNamara, a pediatric oncologist at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital.

Camp Rising Sun, located at the YMCA’s Camp Jewell in Colebrook, Conn. (Litchfield County), has been running for 28 consecutive years. Each year, it gets bigger and better, McNamara said.

The camp, he said, helps children gain self-confidence and gives them the mental attitude to beat cancer.

“They are able to bond with other children going through the same disease,” said McNamara, who has volunteered as the camp’s on-call doctor for 19 years. “They share war stories and bond with each other. This really helps them get through the rest of the year.”