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Camp Rainbow Gold-It ‘Heals You Inside’
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Monday, December 4, 2017
 

STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

Nathan K. teetered as he attempted to cross a log that five other campers were standing on.  Immediately, three pairs of hands reached out to steady him and keep him from falling off.

He tried one tactic to get around the boy on his left and, when that failed, tried something different. Momentarily stumped, he stopped dead in his tracks.

Seeing his frustration, one of the boys began singing: “Lean on me, when you’re not strong and I’ll be your friend. I’ll help you carry on…”

The others chimed in, then applauded as their newfound friend drew courage from them to make his way to the other end of the log.

Learning to lean on one another--and lending one another a hand--is a big part of the camp experience at Camp Rainbow Gold, which holds summer camps at Cathedral Pines in the Smoky Mountains north of Ketchum.

These youngsters are battling cancer—and that’s not an experience easily shared with friends at school. Many of them receive their diagnosis just as they’re reaching the age where self-confidence and self-acceptance is wavering. And cancer only amplifies their emotional distress.

“My parents are wonderful, but it’s good having others who know what you’re going through,” said Stacie Tornga, a camp counselor who first came to camp as a young teen battling leukemia.

Camp Rainbow Gold was started in the mid 1980s by a Twin Falls doctor to give children who could not attend regular camps while being treated for cancer a chance to enjoy childhood activities like singing camp songs, riding horses and creating art with leaves they’d found in the woods.

Over the years it has grown to encompass camps for teenagers, siblings and families.

Fifty-four teenagers were attending this particular camp, aided by a few dozen volunteers who represented such diverse groups as Swiftsure Ranch Therapeutic Equestrian Center and Company of Fools.

The camp director was a former camper who began attending camp when she was 14—a year after she had been diagnosed with stage four renal cell sarcoma. It’s usually a cancer found in older people, especially smokers. But it had left her with a softball-sized tumor on her left kidney.

“Originally, we thought it was a kidney stone,” said Carlie Despres. “But my Mom is a nurse and she said it was weird that someone as young as I would have so many kidney stones. A week later I had my left kidney out and was undergoing experimental immune therapy to boost the immune system to fight cancer cells.”

As she missed school due to treatments, it became difficult to maintain connections with eighth-grade friends who were busy going to school dances, football games and the mall.

But at camp she made new friends who shared her experience battling cancer, while her twin sister met others whose brothers and sisters had cancer at sibling camp.

“I was super shy and didn’t want to come because I already felt weird and alone,” Despres said. “But I bonded with another little girl and, while I didn’t share much that first year, I listened to others and I learned so much. It was great because neither I nor my new friend had anyone we could talk to about what we were going through other. No one understands it if they haven’t been through it.

As she listened to others share their stories, Depres became less self-conscious about the big scar surgery had left across her stomach. And she felt empowered as she realized she wasn’t alone in what she was going through.

“Medicine heals outside. Camp Rainbow Gold heals you inside,” she said. “Now I come back to give young campers the benefit of my experience. And it’s like a reset for me every time I do.”

Now Despres’ husband Kyle Pedersen is the director of sibling camp. Her twin sister Courtney volunteers at the art shack.

The camp leadership program helped Depres realize her gifts.

“I don’t think I would’ve ever gotten over my shyness. But they asked me to speak at a couple fundraisers and I discovered I loved public speaking. I had no clue what I wanted to do. But, as I worked  through the leadership program, I realized I had management skills that could be useful in managing business projects.”

The campers Despres looks after often have special needs.

“You can’t just do mountain biking with many of the youngsters. You have to instill confidence in them because they may have experienced balance and other issues due to what they’ve been through, said Mark Logullo, parent of a former camper.

Many of those between the ages of 18 and 26 who take part in the camp’s Young Adults Program are survivors of brain tumors that damaged parts of their brains. The brain of one young woman, for instance, tells her not to eat anymore and so a counselor is paired with her to ensure she gets proper nourishment.

“The Young Adults Program is one area we could grow if we had a permanent home,” said Elizabeth Lizberg, executive director of Camp Rainbow Gold.

A typical day at Camp Rainbow Gold includes Shine Time at meals where campers praise someone else. Activities like archery and team building exercise are interspersed with special events like an Olympics where cabin mates square off against those in other cabins as they compete in sporting events like cutting a log with a cross saw and volleyball.

Toes Up occurs following lunch where campers retreat to their cabin to take a nap on pillows crafted by the local sewers guild or read a book. And, in between all this is time for circles where youngsters talk out their fears.

“We had one camper in need of a transplant who begged to come to camp,” recalled Lizberg. “She kept her hat on the entire week but finally felt comfortable enough to take it off the last day and let people see her bald head. That’s what this is all about.”

On this particular day six Boulder Mountain Claywork potters made the journey north from Ketchum to show the campers how to make clay owls, which one clever camper turned into a pussycat by adding whiskers.

Sue Connor, Jake Adicoff, Pam Sabel, Charlotte Unger, Cliff Frates and Maryann Chubb have volunteered at the camp for years.

Chubb recounted the story of one woman who was helping her son pack his mementoes as he prepared to start a new home with his bride-to-be.

“The things he wanted to take with him to his new life were his art projects from Camp Rainbow Gold. Their memories were so precious to him,” Chubb said.

Jaime Rivetts, who works with the Idaho Social Learning Center in Ketchum, visited Camp Rainbow Gold 16 years ago and said, “I’m not leaving.” She’s been a volunteer ever since.

“Carlie and Stacie were my first campers,” she recalled. “They were mature for their ages—old souls, like 14 going on 35.  Stacie had a bald head that made her stand out from her friends at school, and Carlie felt self-conscious, too. But, before long, they were sharing Make a Wish stories. I keep coming because of those who can’t. But I wish everyone could come up and experience what goes on here.”

Campers and volunteers have tried to repay the community for what they’ve been given by walking dogs at the animal shelter and other activities. Last spring they filled sandbags to protect homes along the Big Wood River from flooding.

“Those in the Wood River Valley helps us make each day what it is,” said Lizberg. “And we believe we support what the Wood River Valley is all about. Camp is not just a week of fun—it’s life changing. Some of these kids feel the Wood River Valley is their home. And they return to visit the valley with their families.”

Recognizing the financial toll fighting cancer takes on families, Camp Rainbow Gold provides scholarships to help campers go through college. One former camper is now a doctor who makes prostheses for kids with cancer. Another is teaching English at an American school in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Nathan, a freckled faced youngster, was diagnosed with as having cancer when he was 2. He’s been in remission thanks to chemotherapy, radiation and a bone marrow transplant. He’s trying to look towards the future, rather than the past.

 “It’s hard to make friends with those who haven’t been what I’ve been through so I love camp. It’s mde me want to be a pediatrician, or maybe an oncologist. Then, when someone says, ‘You don’t know what it’s like to have cancer,’ I’ll be able to say, ‘Yes, I do.’ ”

SHARE YOUR HEART BALL COMING UP

The 16th annual Share Your Heart Ball—a benefit for Camp Rainbow Gold—will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, at the Sun Valley Inn Limelight Room. The evening will feature cocktails, camp games, dinner, silent and live auction bidding and dancing to No Limits!

For more information, visit www.camprainbowgold.org.

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