MDA or the muscular dystrophy association hosts annual summer camps for kids with neuromuscular disease every year, for full seven days. It’s one of its kind of a summer camp where in kids suffering from neuromuscular diseases discover a world created specifically for them outside their wheelchair. Not just that, here they meet and mingle with other kids sharing the same needs and experiences.
For most campers who attend the MDA, it’s always the best week of the year, even better than Christmas, they say. A few also believe that this is the most exciting and life-changing week in their lives.
Now you may wonder, what is so regular and normal about the MDA camp that sets it apart for campers in challenging health conditions? Besides offering a fun and safe outdoor experience and an opportunity to involve and participate in a wad of activities like horseback riding, swimming, adaptive sports, arts and crafts, camp dances, etc., at MDA the campers can have fun and make friends, something not possible within the confines of their homes.
MDA camp forces the campers out of their comfort zones and help them be independent as they spend a week away from home. Sure, there’s plenty of fun and games at MDA camp, but if you talk to MDA campers, they’ll tell you the real benefits come in a much subtler form.
The lifetime friendships with other campers living with similar challenges, the enhanced self-esteem and confidence, and the chance to spend at least one week of the year in a place where physical disabilities are the norm rather than the exception is what sums up as the true achievements of any MDA camper.
The parents and guardians too get to enjoy a week of respite from what can be an intense schedule of caring for their child’s special health needs.
It’s one place where parents know they can send their special kids off for a week of summer fun and be assured that their child’s medical and physical needs will be met adequately by a team of dedicated health professionals and trained camp volunteers.
The best part about this camp is that the MDA staff and volunteers assume all camper care, including physical and emotional support, giving parents much-needed breather and the time to attend to their own needs. Isn’t that wonderful?
