HALIFAX – A summer camp in Nova Scotia is giving children with cancer a place to have fun, relax and spend time with other kids.
Camp Goodtime is located at Brigadoon Village, near Aylesford, and is currently hosting 79 children. It has been taking place for the past 28-years and offers everything from choreographed dances to outdoor activities.
Barbara Stead-Coyle, the CEO of the Canadian Cancer Society, says the camp is about putting fun first.
“It’s also a chance for them to be in safe environment where the councillors understand how to protect them in terms of looking after their health,” she said.
Parker Murchison is one of the kids spending the week at the camp.
“I’ve been coming here for four years and it’s been an awesome four years,” he said.
“One of my favourite things is going on the water — boating and swimming — and I like when we play games like capture the flag or rocks or tails.”
Kids at the camp say it’s special being around others who understand what it’s like to live with cancer.
“You feel really normal when you’re around these guys because a lot of them have been through the same thing as you, so it helps a lot,” said Parker, who was diagnosed in July 2010.
Stead-Coyle says it’s a different experience than other camps can provide.
“For the first time they get to meet other children who are going through the same experience they are,” she said. “So it’s the journey that brings them together instead of making them feel very much apart from their other friends who don’t understand what a cancer diagnosis means.”
This summer at camp will wrap up this Friday, Aug. 22.
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