Campers at Camp LUCK.
MICHELLE T. BERNARD
Staff Writer
Summer camp is something that many children look forward to every year, but some are unable to experience the joys of camp due to medical conditions or disabilities.
Wade Jackson, a Lincolnton resident, recently won the Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award for his volunteer work for Camp LUCK, a summer camp for children with congenital heart disease. Comcast created the award in 2015 to honor NASCAR team members for their charitable endeavors, awarding $60,000 to the winner’s selected charity.
Secretly nominated for the award by two co-workers, Wade Jackson has worked at JR Motorsports in Mooresville since 2001.
Congenital heart disease is the number one birth defect – one in 100 children are born with some type of congenital heart defect, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Twenty-five percent of those children require surgery within the first year of life to survive.
Wade Jackson’s son, Jacob, was born with congenital heart disease. In 2005, Jacob and his mother, Kim, attended a special camp in California for children with heart disease while Wade stayed home to care for their daughter.
“He loved that so much that we both wanted to have a camp here for kids to attend,” Kim Jackson said.
After they returned from camp, Kim Jackson started a support group for families with children with congenital heart disease and it was there that she first met cardiologist, René Herlong and learned of his desire to start a camp for children with heart disease.
It wasn’t until 2010 that the first Camp LUCK was held at Camp Cherokee, which is at Kings Mountain State Park. LUCK is an acronym for “Lucky Unlimited Cardiac Kids.” The camp was co-founded by Herlong, Jay “Bird” Thompson and Kim.
Wade Jackson explained that Kim Jackson worked on the parent side helping parents feel comfortable with sending their child to camp.
“A lot have never been away from one or both parents,” Wade Jackson said. “When Kim, René and Bird finally got together there was no stopping the camp. Really, it’s Jacob’s legacy though – he loved camp.”
Jacob Jackson was able to attend the inaugural camp in 2010. Several months later, he needed his third open-heart surgery, which he did not survive.
Kim admitted that it was difficult to keep going with the camp after Jacob died but she felt like it was something that Jacob would want her to do because he enjoyed camp so much. A child with congenital heart disease is frequently in the hospital or at doctor’s appointments so there’s a lot of stress and anxieties for them.
“There’s no cure for congenital heart defects and Camp LUCK is a place for them to temporarily forget about these worries,” Kim Jackson said. “The thing with heart kids is that most of them don’t look sick. Unless you see the scars on their chest you don’t understand their limitations. They’re dealing with it everyday and a lot of them are ashamed.”
She relayed a message she recently received from a dad whose son recently had a heart transplant.
“I wanted to let you know that technology and God are amazing,” the message read. “Twelve days after receiving his new heart my son is getting to go home today. He is excited about getting to go to camp this summer because he said he will be able to run faster and not get as tired. Thank you for giving him something to look forward to.”
Kim Jackson said that this was one the reasons why she is so passionate about this camp.
“I want them to have it to look forward to all year long,” she said. “Some can go to regular camp but a lot of the parents don’t want them to. Most of them are on many different types of medicines that they take two or three times a day. Our medical staff makes sure that they get the medications when they are supposed to get them.”
It’s not easy for parents with special-needs kids to feel comfortable with letting their children to attend by themselves, according to Kim Jackson, so she shares her stories about how much Jacob loved attending camp and how much he got out of it.
“Kids that are able to attend a residential camp learn the ability to deal with other kids,” she said. “Heart kids are often kept under the shelter of the parents because it is such a debilitating illness.”
A number of the volunteers at Camp LUCK are also affected by heart disease and they’ll often act as roll models for the younger children. After Jacob attended the camp in California in 2005, he was able to travel to Hawaii on his own to volunteer at a camp.
“It’s a neat experience for the kids to go to camp, to have that residential camp experience,” Kim Jackson said. “Knowing that it’s medically supervised is why the families trust us.”
At Camp LUCK the children do normal camp activities like climb rock walls, swimming, archery, horseback riding, arts and crafts and evening activities like campfires, s’mores and like other camps there’s a lot of laughs and memories made.
“The difference with Camp LUCK is that it gives some of the children the courage to be advocates for themselves and to share their story which is very powerful,” she said.
There is no fee for the children to attend and this past year there were 121 children who attended the camp. Most of Camp LUCK is staffed by volunteers and all of the doctors are volunteers.
“We know the hardship of having to pay all the co-pays for surgeries, medications and doctor visits,” she said. “We want the kids to be worry-free as well as the parents.”
Wade said that he has not missed a camp but unfortunately with his work schedule – the kid’s camp in August happens right at the busiest time with NASCAR – but spends at least part of the week there pitching in wherever they need help.
It costs approximately $58,000 to fund just the kid’s camp throughout the year, according to Wade Jackson. Camp LUCK also has other programs like Baby LUCK – which offers scheduled bi-monthly meetings for parents of children seven and under who have heart disease and Hug n’ Heal pillows which are given to children in the intensive care unit after a surgical procedure.
Camp LUCK is open to any child suffering from congenital heart disease from seven to 14 years of age but they have to have had open-heart surgery in order to attend the camp. If they are 15 and older they can apply to be a volunteer.
“We don’t want them to age out of Camp LUCK because it’s a life changing thing to bond with people with similar diagnosis,” Wade Jackson said. “It helps for a six-year-old to see an 18-year-old with the same defect and to learn the only setbacks or limitations are the ones you set on yourself.”
“Parents are amazed when the kids come home by what they’ve learned and the confidence they’ve gained,” Kim Jackson said. “I look back on Jacob and am glad I gave him that experience.”
“Just because their heart is broken it doesn’t mean that they’re broken,” Wade added.
Camp for families is held every year at Camp LUCK in May and a kids-only camp is held in August. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.campluck.com or call (704) 240-1041.
Image courtesy of Contributed
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