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I just received word that one of my campers from this summer passed away yesterday.
For those of you who haven't heard the saga of my summer, I was a camp director of a daycamp for children with (severe) disabilities. Some of them were as "mild" as some emotional and behavioal problems, and others had some pretty serious issues.
This particular camper... I'll call her "Suzie"... had a degenerative brain disease, and every year, she would slip away just a little bit more. I only know what I saw for two months this summer, and it made me sad. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for her family to watch.
My supervisor had mentioned that she feared this would be Suzie's last summer at camp... but I wonder if either of us ever really allowed ourselves to think that it would be Suzie's last summer... period.
It's a sad, strange feeling... and I hope that some of my staff is able to make it to the viewing or the funeral. Even if we don't say anything, I hope that our presence will show Suzie's family that she was very much a light in our lives this summer, and that we did everything we could to show her the best time that she could have.
For those of you who haven't heard the saga of my summer, I was a camp director of a daycamp for children with (severe) disabilities. Some of them were as "mild" as some emotional and behavioal problems, and others had some pretty serious issues.
This particular camper... I'll call her "Suzie"... had a degenerative brain disease, and every year, she would slip away just a little bit more. I only know what I saw for two months this summer, and it made me sad. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for her family to watch.
My supervisor had mentioned that she feared this would be Suzie's last summer at camp... but I wonder if either of us ever really allowed ourselves to think that it would be Suzie's last summer... period.
It's a sad, strange feeling... and I hope that some of my staff is able to make it to the viewing or the funeral. Even if we don't say anything, I hope that our presence will show Suzie's family that she was very much a light in our lives this summer, and that we did everything we could to show her the best time that she could have.