Camp Magical Moments celebrates 15 years

The circus has taken over Camp Magical Moments, a camp for kids with cancer in Swan Valley, which is celebrating 15 years. This week, 32 campers and 46 volunteers from all over the country are learning a variety of circus tricks.

“I’ve been learning how to spin plates and do tricks on a hoop,” said camper Ariana.

Many campers come year after year. One camper, Kaedon, is graduating from camp after attending it for the past five years.

Kaedon enjoys “being with the other kids that have had cancer like me and know that there’s more people out there besides me,” he said.

Camp Director Ann Walsh says that feeling is the most important thing campers walk away with. Some campers even come back as counselors and are role models for future campers.

“Here she was at our camp 15 years ago and now she’s back as a counselor,” Walsh said when speaking about a camper turned counselor. “So seeing that has been unbelievable. And it also gives them the hope and courage to know that ‘Hey, I can battle this and I can come back as a counselor.'”

Kaedon has been in remission for five years. Even though this is his last year as a camper, he will take the lesson’s he’s learned here with him forever.

“This camp has changed my life to help me to help others more,” he said. “Instead of being needy and try to take everything for myself,” he has learned to focus on “others who are having the same situation or a harder situation than me.”

The camp ends Saturday with a circus performance by the kids for their parents. There is a dress rehearsal open to the community at 7 p.m. Friday at the camp.