At Camp Everest, everyone gets to be a carefree kid, regardless of medical need. That’s what Wendy Beaudoin and Angela Bokenfohr say is the basic principle of the summer camp. Beaudoin first started the project through the Neurosurgery Kids Fund 15 years ago after direct experience with loved ones being denied the opportunity to go to camp for neurosurgical conditions. “We had a kid who was seven who had registered for another camp in the city and was declined because they had a shunt. Yes a shunt is scary, yes it’s a piece of medical equipment. But at the end of the day, they can do everything that any other kid is going to do,” Bokenfohr, a clinical nurse specialist who also helped found the camp, said. Friday was the first day of this year’s camp at a site about 90 kilometres east of Edmonton. Beaudoin’s daughter Olivia was in and out of the Stollery Children’s Hospital for years. She became a regular camper thanks to her mom’s work. Two of Bokenfohr’s nieces are also campers. Camp Everest is a three-and-a-half day summer excursion for kids ages seven to 15 who have had brain or spinal surgery or who have otherwise not been able to qualify for other camps due to medical conditions. Each day operates with a staff of nurses, therapists, physicians and surgeons, all of whom hung up their stethoscopes to become counselors. “It blows minds both on the staff and on the patients’ ends, the opportunity to say, ‘I’ve seen you at your worst, and now I get to see you at your best,’” Bokenfohr said. “You’re not trying to hold it together. Like, go be a kid. Go do what makes you happy.” This year, Camp Everest has 32 kids and 50 volunteers. There is a wait list to apply, but Bokenfohr says they will take everything into consideration. “We have campers that are aging out at age 15 that have never had the opportunity to go to camp, so we’re like, ‘OK, well you’re definitely in,’” she explained. She also says “numerous meetings” go into ensuring each kid who has been affected by pediatric neurosurgery can have the best time possible catered to mobility and medical needs. “I guess until you realize how inaccessible the world is, then you realize what a gem places like (Camp Everest) are.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
