This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to be a counselor at Camp Hope, a summer camp for kids with chronic pediatric pancreatitis sponsored by the charity Rebecca’s Wish. Chronic pediatric pancreatitis is a disease that requires constant access to medical care, which greatly inhibits the patients ability to participate in a variety of activities. In addition, this disease is extremely difficult to properly diagnose as many doctors are uneducated about it and symptoms are very similar to other afflictions. This combination causes children with pediatric pancreatitis to need frequent hospitalization at a moment’s notice, forcing them to miss out on school, sports, or any other activity with their friends.

Camp Hope allows kids with pancreatitis to experience all the activities of a traditional summer camp such as zip-lining, swimming, basketball, and so much more. The camp had world class pancreatitis specialists on site at all times, turning hospital trips that could otherwise take a week into a routine 30 minute visit. In fact, there were well over 1,000 trips to the onsite medical center throughout the week of camp. This allowed campers to get immediate medical care and get straight back into an activity, ensuring they don’t miss out on all of the fun.

As the campers began trickling into camp for the first day, I could immediately notice the incredible impact of Camp Hope. The kids who had attended before (this was the 3rd year of Camp Hope) immediately seemed at home—running around, playing tag, and catching up with the friends they made last year. On the other hand, the new campers were initially very timid and tried to keep to themselves despite our efforts to have them join in the pre-camp fun. However, that was soon to change. By even the end of the first day, every camper in my group of 8 elementary school boys seemed completely at home, bonding over camp activities as well as their shared experience of living with chronic pancreatitis. During cabin time they’d talk about their experience with the disease—taking solace in being able to talk with someone their age that truly understands what they’re going through.

I think the most impressive part of Camp Hope was the balance between talking about and working through some of the shared feelings and experiences of living with pancreatitis while also having plenty of activities where the campers could just enjoy being at a summer camp. Some of the many activities we did were ziplining, rock climbing, dodgeball, swimming, basketball, archery, nerf wars, and teaching the campers to play blackjack with snacks (and teaching them the house always wins). The theme for this year’s camp was Superheroes, and accordingly we had a few activities centered around it. I found myself acting in a play where Wonderman and the Flash beat up the evil scientists Dr. Diabetes and Professor Pancreas (I was on the receiving end of the beat down).

My absolute favorite activity was also related to this theme, which took place near the end of camp. This time, both counselors and campers were all superheroes, while camp staff dressed as supervillains spread out throughout the massive campsite. Each supervillain had a challenge that we needed to work together as a team to overcome, and defeat the villain. However, the rules and premise of the game weren’t really what made the activity my favorite. What turned this activity into an experience I’ll never forget was how it really brought out the personalities of each of my campers, and showed me the incredible impact Camp Hope had on them.

To tell this story, I first have to tell you about Jagger Johnson (coolest name ever btw), one of my elementary school campers. When I first saw Jagger, I immediately started thinking of how I could get on the phone with the Chicago Bears GM to ensure he’d end up on our offensive line. Everything about him screamed star lineman from his prototypical size and strength, awesome name, and the fact that he showed up wearing a bucket hat and pit vipers. However, Jagger was incredibly shy at the start of camp. We had to coerce him to participate in activities, and was really quiet during cabin time—staying in his bed while the other kids played.

Activity by activity, I slowly began to see Jagger break out of his shell. One of the first times I remember is him tearing up the cabin floor when we decided to have a cabin dance competition. Next it was him deciding to give rock climbing a shot despite initially wanting to just sit and watch. This all culminated with the aforementioned superhero activity, where Jagger’s competitive and boisterous football player persona started to fully shine. During the first challenge, Jagger started giving the whole team motivational speeches, shouting thing like “Let’s go guys they ain’t got nothing on us!” Next thing I knew he was giving everyone pep talks, running around and also letting the villains have it too. We were all dying of laughter as he went up to the “villains” and let them know the superheroes were going to win, and that they had no chance to beat us. Everyone fed off of his contagious energy and soon we were all screaming and hyping each other up, while running around and taking down the villains. It was seriously some of the most fun I’ve ever had, and everyone had a blast largely thanks to the bundle of joy and energy that was Jagger.

From that activity on, Jagger and all of the other kids in our cabin were the best of friends, and cabin time never failed to be a bunch of fun. It was amazing how close they all got with each other and with us counselors. Jagger’s transformation was not unique to him, I saw all of the kids get so much more confident in themselves and grow over the course of camp. So many of the kids talked about how this was the most fun week of their life, and I know that the friendships formed at Camp Hope will last forever (one of my other campers Tommy even had business cards with his phone number so everyone could stay in touch). Being a counselor at camp hope was truly a life changing experience, not just for me but the lives of all my campers.