A nurse and a camper went to Camp Discovery

Traci Sprecht, a nurse, volunteered at Camp Discovery when her son Aiden attended as a first-time camper.

Traci’s story

I was glad it all worked out. It was Aiden’s first time going away from home, and he’s only nine. The only thing he seemed nervous about was that he didn’t necessarily look like some of the other kids. His treatment means he gets a shot every week but outwardly, his skin looks under control. Still, he’s a very outgoing kid. Even though I was nervous, he thought it sounded amazing.

For me, I just thought the staff was amazing. When I was there I realized there were many repeat staffers there, too. I thought it was really cool that the staff loved Camp Discovery so much that they kept coming back. The seasoned medical staff crew clearly loved what they did.

As medical staff, we have our own cabin. But I also had a group of female campers that I was with, and it was fun to get to know them. I also thought it was cool that some of the counselors used to be campers. They kind of came full circle. I felt like lifelong connections are made at Camp Discovery.

And Camp Discovery is such a great experience. For kids, like my son Aiden, they get to do all sorts of cool and fun activities. All the kids get to be kids. For some of them who have the more intense skin diseases, it’s important to be able to forget all that and just be a kid.

For me, it was an amazing learning experience. I really learned a lot by looking at the other side of things and seeing what all the kids have to go through. And my feelings felt validated when I looked around at some of my fellow volunteers, counselors who were campers and came back. They did that because Camp Discovery was such an amazing experience for them.

I really think that there were no negatives to this experience. Camp Discovery is a good opportunity for the campers, for the counselors, for the medical staff. Everyone can learn and grow from their time at Camp Discovery.