In 2009, I was for­tu­nate enough to be able to attend the Ostomy Camp all week. Wow, was it an experience!

The Bragg Creek Ostomy Camp for Chil­dren is one week at the Easter Seals camp, shared with the kid­ney kids, mak­ing it at a fun filled expe­ri­ence for 70 kids. This is a pic­ture per­fect piece of prop­erty tucked just behind Bragg Creek in South­ern Alberta, Canada. The campers spend the week with breath­tak­ing views of the moun­tains, breath­ing the moun­tain air, sleep­ing in log bun­ga­lows, swim­ming in the pool, swing­ing from high ropes, climb­ing rock walls and mak­ing life­time friend­ships.

This year was titled “Extreme” which meant that every­thing we did was extreme! First we broke into 4 teams of col­ors: blue, red, green and orange. Each team focused on one extreme skill which, on the Fri­day, was demon­strated to the whole group. Being on the blue team, we spent the week prac­tic­ing Capoeira. The other groups did a newslet­ter, played extreme sports, and cre­ated a beau­ti­ful play all of which was per­formed on the Fri­day when every­one was able to watch.

The camp was a mag­i­cal expe­ri­ence for every­one, myself included. I was so impressed in how every­one was able to let go of their con­cerns around the pri­vacy of their ostomy and kid­ney prob­lems. I found that even the chil­dren whom at first were some­what reluc­tant to open up were able to com­pletely open up and talk about their prob­lems within a day or two. I was also impressed with the abil­ity of the kids to be able to push back their med­ical issues and just be kids.

Not get­ting my Ostomy until my early 20s, I missed under­stand­ing the kinds of issues that a young per­son would have to deal with. Now that I have seen first­hand the ben­e­fits of this type of Camp I can only say that I feel it is imper­a­tive for all of our Ostomy chil­dren to have an oppor­tu­nity to attend such an event. I am hon­ored to know Pat Cim­meck for see­ing the need for this and tak­ing the steps towards cre­at­ing it. I am also proud of our Cal­gary Ostomy chap­ter for spon­sor­ing 2 chil­dren to attend each year.

Not every­one will be able to see this incred­i­ble event first­hand, so you will have to take my word for it that this was the most amaz­ing week I have ever had. The courage and strength that these chil­dren pos­sess touched me deeply in my heart and I will never for­get them.

Sheri R.