An open house at Campfire Circle Rainbow Lake on Saturday gave a London teen the chance to revisit one of his favorite places.
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“Going somewhere that you just get to hang out and do fun stuff has made it a lot easier to make friends,” said Patrick Conboy. “You get along with a lot of people by having similar backgrounds.”
The 16-year-old boy was diagnosed with a brain tumour at the age of seven which resulted in several surgeries and a total of 70 weeks of chemotherapy.
“I’m feeling a lot better,” he said on Tuesday. “Going through chemo (while at) school was hard. I was taking half days through my Grade 9 year, which put a stunt of a lot of things and making connections with friends.”
Patrick has attended the Waterford-area camp every year for a five-day vacation with his mother Jessie, since his initial diagnosis.
“I really enjoy the high ropes, arts and crafts, water-skiing at the Muskoka site,” he shared. “Paddle-boarding and kayaking are probably my favorite. I also enjoy the campfires that they have. Everyone has fun singing songs. For the memory’s sake, it’s really nice.”
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In 2020 Camp Ooch in Muskoka and Camp Trillium in Waterford merged with the goal of serving more kids with cancer, and their families. Under the name Campfire Circle, the organization continues relationships with stakeholders built over the last 40 years.
“Our Rainbow Lake site is home to our family camp programs,” said Caley Bornbaum, chief development officer for Campfire Circle. “That means that kids with cancer, their siblings and caregivers get to come to camp to experience friendship and fun, and the opportunity to challenge themselves to build resilience, self-confidence and try new things.”
Campfire Circle provides year-round programming for children with cancer, including in-hospital, community, and overnight camp programs with the support and generosity of volunteers and donors as a privately funded organization.
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Saturday’s open house was a chance for donors and the public to see what Campfire Circle is all about.
“Rainbow Lake is supported by so many folks from the local community, whether it be service club members helping to build docks, or getting the site ready to welcome campers,” Bornbaum explained. “We always offer our programs completely free of charge for camper families. We want to reduce the financial burden that camper families and children with serious illnesses are impacted by.”
Rainbow Lake has nurses and doctors on call, while the Muskoka site can do on-site IV chemotherapy and blood transfusions.
“So even some very medically fragile kids can get to be kids again… to connect with peers who have walked similar paths,” Bornbaum said.
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Jessie Conboy said her son’s experiences with Campfire Circle have been amazing.
“Camp has always been a really positive thing in our lives that has happened because of his diagnosis,” she shared. “I couldn’t imagine going through this without camp and that community.”
Conboy credits the Campfire Circle staff who work in hospitals, noting they positively impacted his stays in hospital during challenging times by taking his mind off the negative things that were happening, and the scared feelings he had.
“It’s a fabulous, free program and it’s given Patrick something to aspire to be.”
Meantime, Patrick will be involved in the camp’s Leadership in Training program this summer.
“My plan is to work there when I turn 18, and throughout university,” he said. “My plan is to go to King’s University (for) Child and Youth Studies, then go to McMaster for their Child Life Specialist course.”
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