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Winter 2009 |
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E
D U C A T I O N
Medical student profoundly affected by volunteer experience
at camp for children with cancer
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Submitted Photo |
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Matthew Andrews with children at Camp
Delight. |
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Camp Delight is an
oncology camp for children age seven to 17 affected by childhood cancer
and their siblings that is organized by Candlelighter’s Association of
Newfoundland and Labrador.
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By Matthew Andrews |
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Camp Delight is an oncology camp for
children age seven to 17 affected by childhood cancer and their
siblings. This eight-day residency camp is a remarkable production
of the Candlelighter’s Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (CANL),
an organization formed by caring and generous parents of children
with childhood cancer.
Camp Delight has been the highlight of my
summer for the last five years. I began volunteering as a camp
councillor before the start of medical school and immediately became
addicted after my first year. I had such an unforgettable and touching
experience that I couldn’t wait for the planning of the next year’s camp
to begin. I had previously performed a variety of volunteer activities,
but nothing compared to the gratification I received from knowing I had
created a smile on the face of a child for a full week.
Camp Delight is truly a special place that
no words do justice to describe, and that one has to experience to
believe. It’s a magical environment where for eight days the primary
focus revolves around having FUN. It’s a time when children who have
faced enormous challenges are consumed with the enjoyment of outdoor
activities, arts and crafts, dance parties, water fights, canoe rides
and camp fires. More importantly, it’s a time of year when the children
get to forget about the illnesses that brought them together, and
instead focus on making new friendships and working together to devise
pranks on staff members.
I believe camp is also a place of comfort
as it’s suddenly “normal” for children to have bald heads, walk with a
gait, have a Port-a-cath or Hickman catheter. I feel children actively
undergoing therapy leave camp with a great sense of encouragement,
optimism and hope as they have met others who have experienced similar
illness to their own, and who are now carefree in a status of remission.
During my clinical clerkship at Memorial,
I had the joy of returning to Camp Delight as part of my core
paediatrics rotation as a member of the medical team. This provided an
amazing opportunity to experience camp from a different perspective, and
to bridge medical curriculum with real life cases. This role not only
provided enormous insight into the prognosis and medical management of
paediatric cancer, but also established a new understanding of the
challenges faced by oncology patients and their families. I greatly
encourage fellow medical students to seek similar and unique educational
opportunities.
Over the years, I have built many
friendships and memories through camp with fellow volunteers, campers
and their families. Many of these people now feel like extensions to my
own family. I have also shared their great loss when campers were unable
to return the following year as they had succumbed to their illness.
Such experiences have made me grow as a person, have positively affected
my life, and will forever influence my practice as a future physician.
To find out more about Camp Delight or the
Candlelighters Association of Newfoundland and Labrador visit the
CANL website.
Matthew Andrews is a fourth-year
medical student at Memorial University. He is from Mount Pearl.
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