Special camp helps kids with cancer

Those warm temps outside mean summer is officially here, and with the time off school, it’s the season for summer camp.

One camp in Swan Valley is different from the rest. To a passerby it’d look like any summer camp, but everyone at Camp Magical Moments, has one big thing in common: Cancer.

“We horseback ride,” camper Katy said. “We rock climb. We have campfires.”

Most of the kids were diagnosed at Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City.

“A lot of the kids are like, ‘Wow, I thought I was the only one with cancer,’ and there’s other kids who have cancer.,” organizer Ann Walsh said.

She moved to Swan Valley eight years ago and founded Camp Magical Moments.

“It’s just amazing,” Ann said. “They start talking about their ports, losing their hair, going through chemo or radiation. It’s so good for them to be around others who have gone through what they’re going through.”

There are 28 campers, keeping it small and personal.

“When you first come, you feel scared, but don’t be scared — just have fun!” camper Thomas said.

He’s no stranger to camp, so he showed us one of the most magical places at camp, the garden of angels.

“It’s just really sad to see all the people who have died,” he said.

But that sadness, holds a happy message. A message none of the kids forget.

“It is very important for the children to know, if something happened to them, they will be remembered in our celebration of life ceremony,” Walsh said.

And remember they do. Every year at camp, by reading the words of lost campers and celebrating the life they have.

Camp Magical Moments is completely free. They’ll even help parents pay for the gas to get there.

Walsh also started a camp for siblings of the cancer patients and a mom’s retreat.

For more information, click here: http://www.campmagicalmoments.org/