Burn Camp gives burn-injured kids a week of fun, support
By Lisa Smith
Correspondent
Everybody at Burn Camp has a different story, but one thing unites this special group of summer campers – they are survivors. These courageous kids and adults want to continue living their lives as best as they can with the scars they carry on the inside and the outside.
Camp Timber-lee in East Troy was host to the 23rd annual Summer Camp for Burn Injured Youth last week. The big event started with campers, ages 7 to 17, arriving on Aug. 13.
With donations, and events held in honor of these survivors, the The Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin Charitable Foundation was able to provide more than 75 burn survivors and their families this wonderful experience at no cost to them.
Michael Wos, executive director of the PFFWCF, was thrilled with all the support and volunteers that come back every year to help.
“It’s a time where these kids can just be kids and not worry about their physical appearance,” he said. “The campers get to speak to, and confide in, other survivors, hearing others’ stories and struggles shows these kids that they are not alone. Building up a network of support and a sense of belonging is a the goal here.”
Most of the week’s activities were held at Camp Timber-lee, but field trips were taken to Wisconsin Dells, Phantom Ranch and a dinner at the East Troy firehouse. Activities at Timber-lee included horseback riding, archery and groups working with nurses from Children’s Hospital and St. Mary’s. Free massages were offered and therapy dogs brought in.
On Thursday, the camp hosted visitor/media and family day. Representatives from many area fire departments arrived with different equipment and trucks for a parade of engines, ambulances, and other emergency response vehicles – complete with horns and sirens rallied up the crowd. Some campers were allowed to ride in a parade lap in one of the engines.
The fun day ended with the famous slip and slide full of bubbles – the highlight to end camp every year.
Burn Camp was created to recognize the unique needs of those who have endured significant burns. Not only the physical pain of endless treatments or the visible scars on the outside, but the issues of self-worth and how they want the world to see them. Close to 30 volunteers make the camp possible every year. Volunteers include firefighters, medical professionals, and adult burn survivors. These adult burn survivors are an inspiration to the young campers.
One of the camps counselors, Latoya Eskridge, was the only survivor of a Milwaukee house fire in 1991 – she 3 years old at the time. Eskridge’s sister and cousin lost their lives in that fire and Eskridge spent six months in a hospital to treat second- and third-degree burns over her entire body. She lost her fingers on her right hand and went through grueling physical therapy for many years.
What one notices first about Eskridge aren’t her scars, but her beautiful smile.
“I still have my lips!” she said, showing off that smile.
At 7 years old, she was one of the original campers at Burn Camp. She said even at that young age, she knew God had a plan and she was to go out and help others to live a full life – in spite of their significant scars,
“I love being a counselor here,” she said. “I want these young kids to know that just because they have scars on the outside, they are the same wonderful people on the inside. They can let their guards down here and feel comfortable about who they are.”
It is the hope of all who work together to make this camp happen that this attitude and feeling of self-worth can be extended to life outside of camp. It is the hope of burn survivors everywhere that the world will see past the scars and accept them for the people they are and will become.
