Diabetes at Camp Bearskin Part I: My Story

I was surrounded by kids just like me: kids who understood what it was like to receive daily injections, who knew what it was like to only be allowed to eat certain foods, who laughed with me at corny diabetes skits, who knew what it was like to be low or be high, but most of all, who just got diabetes because they had diabetes. That second summer, I felt lucky to be one of those kids. The community of camp was infectious, and I now belonged. No where else in the world was like camp, and camp was where I wanted to be.

Twenty one years later I am still in love with the camp experience and everything about it; the challenges, the risks, the learning, the laughter, the nature, the growth and the community. I love diabetes camp so much that I have chosen it as a career. My work as a former Diabetes Camp Director and now Director of Programs has brought me to a different diabetes camp across the country, over the border, and south, to California. I am now in my fifth year with the Diabetic Youth Foundation's Bearskin Meadow Camp and Year-Round programs. With more than 80 staff of whom 60 percent have diabetes, 40 volunteers, and 850 participants served during the summer alone, we love what we do and are excited for the upcoming session.

We are in the midst of our busiest season and in less than 24 hours, we will officially be welcoming 41 families to our diabetes camp on the mountain, for a five-night six day session. We have said goodbye to staff training, two kids' camps, a teen camp, and now welcome in our Family Camp portion of the summer. We are heading into our first session of four family camps that will run over the next month.

Tomorrow we will say hello to our first batch of families, some new, some returning, some nervous, some scared, some excited, all anticipating the Bearskin experience and the potential it has to offer.