INFLUENCERS
// the game changer
Finding Joy By Maren Bartels FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS, Camp Wapiyapi has played a vital role in the lives of children facing the effects of pediatric cancer. Each summer through two-week-long sessions, 150 camper patients and siblings are welcome to just be kids. “Wapiyapi” (a Lakota Sioux word chosen by campers that means healing) has served over 2,000 children ranging from ages 6-17, at no cost to their families where they’re surrounded by nature and nurturing counselors.
Founded by a group of University of Colorado medical students in the early 1990s, the camp now takes place at Quaker Ridge Camp in Woodland Park with 91 percent of campers from Colorado and 9 percent from surrounding states. Although the pandemic prompted a virtual camp experience in 2020 and again this year, the camp is still a place of joy, acceptance, and emotional healing. Cancer can be devastating at any age but it can be particularly harmful to a child’s psychological growth and development. Kids not only face harsh treatments to their bodies, but they also face long-term effects such as blindness, amputation, or skeletal abnormalities. Children feel different and struggle to assimilate back into their typical childhood activities. And the mental trauma impacts every member of the family, with siblings suffering from the loss of a close relationship with their parents and brothers and sisters. On top of all of that, the financial burden of cancer creates even more challenges as parents struggle to meet their children’s needs while holding on to their jobs. Camp Wapiyapi provides a welcome respite 68
june 2021 // AvidLifestyle
PHOTOS: COURTESY CAMP WAPIYAPI
Fostering healing, fun, and friendships for children and their families facing childhood cancer through AN EXCEPTIONAL CAMP EXPERIENCE.
from the daily challenges of childhood cancer and an additional circle from which families may draw the strength for continued healing. As a parent described, camp is about relationships with those who understand their journey and accept them just as they are. It provides an opportunity for campers to be like other kids and to enjoy friendships within a nurturing community of support. “I will never forget the
