Kesem by your side

My daughter joined me on the trip down to Boston yesterday. I was going down for scans, and we decided to call on Camp Kesem (CK) counselors and use this camp perk called Kesem by your side. Two of her CK counselors met us at Dana Farber (DF) and took her out to brunch and to the MFA all while I was taking care of cancer stuff.

My daughter has been having a harder time with worries since September. It’s the collateral damage that comes with a cancer diagnosis. It’s so hard to see your kids struggle in general, but these worries and struggles feel so big and unfair. One thing I have learned while parenting through cancer is that normalizing their experience helps make some of those worries less big. I wanted to bring my daughter to DF to remind her that it’s not a scary place and that Boston isn’t just the place we come to for cancer care. My intention with bringing her to Boston was to ease her worries and help her feel loved. That’s the normal I want for her.

She got to hang with some amazing college students and see some of Frieda Kahlo’s works at the MFA. She got to be a kid enjoying a city. Her experience was fun and normal – she was a kid without the worries of a parent with cancer for an afternoon.

Camp Kesem is such an excellent resource for our kids dealing with a parent that has cancer. I cannot express how lucky we are to have access to so many CK camps in New England. We attend the CK associated with MIT, but there are a handful of others in our region.  I hate the reason the camps exist, but I love that they do exist and help our kids be kids and shrink those worries for some time. Indeed, CK is a magical experience!

Here’s my shameless plug: Kids get to attend CK free of charge. These visits with the counselors outside of camp are also done without any charge. I am so impressed with the college students that choose to give so much of themselves to CK kids. And I am equally impressed with how the CK kids care for one another. These bonds and friendships are special and lasting. None of it could happen though without donations. Here is comes 🙂

Help ‘Make the Magic’ for kids like my daughter (and son in years to come). Come to the gala or make a donation. If you can’t give financially, spread the word about this camp. There are locations all over the US. We all know someone dealing with cancer, and if that someone has kids, they need to know about CK. The parent doesn’t have to currently be in treatment to qualify kids for attendance. We sent my daughter last year, and this was before I had my MBC diagnosis. I know she still felt the effects of my early stage diagnosis even though it wasn’t in her face every day. She went to CK to meet other kids dealing with this same stressor. Camp is normalizing her experience. Such a gift.