The weather couldn’t have been nicer for Sunday’s opening of the Maritime’s only camp for burn-injured children.
It’s the 18th year for the Atlantic Burn Camp in Cape Breton, which brings burn victims a unique opportunity to meet others going through similar situations as themselves.
“Back when I was six years old, my friend and I were having a gas fire behind my uncle’s shed,” says camper Boyd Penney. “Threw a gas can in there and it exploded, and stuck to my back.”
This is the now 16-year-old’s seventh and final year as a camper at the event held every summer.
“You’re doing so much stuff all the time that you completely forget about it,” he says. “You’re with people who know how it feels to be burned.”
The camp’s goal is to help kids feel comfortable in their own skin.
Campers receive guidance from adults like Grant Gillard, who also suffered serious burns in the past.
“By looking at me and seeing, ‘Well, Grant is walking around, being positive, smiling, playing with us. I can grow up and do this,’” he says.
The free week-long camp is chock-filled of outdoor activities, including a day on the Mira River.
Some campers find their experiences at the camp so rewarding that they return as counsellors once they’re adults.
“I just love this place,” says counsellor Patrick Young. “I love everybody here, and even last year as a camper I was helping.”
Paying it forward is a common theme and the Atlantic Burn Camp.
“It’s got nothing to do with your scars,” says Gillard. “It’s what’s on the inside.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.
