This is a wonderful event for all that were at the camp. It sounds like a huge
undertaking and extremely worthwhile.
Thank you so much for being so giving.
Janice
----- Original Message -----
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected] ; [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, August 23, 2009 10:01 PM
Subject: Re: [TMIC] Victory Junction
Hello Debbie,
I got so excited to see your letter that I quickly called Pete into the
room and read your message outloud to him. I was so thrilled to hear of all
the experiences that these kids were able to have, that otherwise wouldn't be
available to accessible to them. Oh, I am so happy to hear that so many had
such a wonderful time and if for just a week had the time of their lives that
will not be forgotten in many years, if ever.
I had no idea that this camp was such a wonderful place. And, it
definately brought tears to my eyes to think of Michael baiting hooks for the
kids and helping them to get them back in the water to hopefully live to be
caught again by another child. To think of you doing arts and crafts is good
too, but Michael, so many kids never ever get a chance to go fishing!
Thanks also for the update on the kids that we haven't heard about in
quite a while. It's nice getting those updates, as I know meant to much to you
to see again. Hard to think of Rachael's brother being teenagers, but it makes
sense. Time flies doesn't it?
I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures soon and hope that you're well
rested now.
Warm hugs, Barbara A
-----Original Message-----
From: Deborah Nord Capen <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sun, Aug 23, 2009 12:37 pm
Subject: [TMIC] Victory Junction
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
[email protected]
