Camp Trillium

We just got back from a week at Camp Trillium. Wow.

Camp Trillium provides camping and recreation for children with cancer and their families and we were lucky enough to have a week at Garratt's Island.

The week was joyful, like when ten children eddied and scrambled and waited impatiently for a nest of baby turtles to climb out of a hole in the ground, one-by-one, and scramble away to their new lives; or when my little girl put on safety equipment and scaled a 30 foot climbing wall (while I chewed my fingernails down to the quick).

There were laughs, when the entire camp dressed up for a 'wedding' in costumes from the costume trunk, including my husband in a fuscia skirt and myself in a mosquito netting 'sari'; or when all the 'sheep' counsellors had to be bathed 'in the lake'.

There were moments of deep connection with other parents who have had to stand by and watch their children undergo painful and dangerous procedures in order to fight their disease. I met parents who spent weeks or months in the hospital caring for children, who lost their jobs or gave them up, who exposed themselves to radiation because their child's therapy was too dangerous for hospital staff. I am in awe of these people.

There were moments of hope and peace, meeting parents and siblings of survivors, meeting a mother who has lost a daughter to cancer who is a wonderful mother to her children.

Georgia loved the other children and the turtles, Sydney loved the archery range and kayaking. Scott enjoyed the peace and quiet. What a great rest.

Cheers,
Faye