Victory Junction Gang Camp and The Transverse Myelitis Association Establish Partner Agreement

In November 2008 the TMA and Victory Junction Gang Camp formally recognized a partnership that has really been in the works since 2005.  Leslie Cerio, Shannon O’Keefe and Stephen Miller began the work of finding a camp for the children in our community.  A long and complicated journey brought them to Victory Junction Gang Camp in 2006.  Our first retreat weekend was held in November, 2006 for teens and young adults with ADEM, NMO, ON, TM and their families.  Our second retreat weekend was held in October, 2008.  Our first family camp was held in the summer of 2007.  The second TMA family camp will be held at Victory Junction Gang Camp in August 2009. 

Every trip we make to Victory Junction is magical for all who attend.  Our summer camp will be an amazing experience.  The camp is a wonderful place, but the magic about Victory Junction is really about the caring and exceptional people who manage the camp and the many volunteers who devote their time and energy to creating an unforgettable experience for these children and their families.  For the children and their families who have lives filled with so many complicated challenges, the family camp at Victory Junction is non-stop laughter, fun and excitement.  It is energizing beyond words for the families, but it is also transformational for all of us who have the honor of sharing in this week-long celebration of these incredible children and their families.

We are going to have more than 40 families attending camp this summer from across the United States and also from Canada, England and Denmark.  For many of these families, it will be their first opportunity to meet other families with children with these rare neuroimmunologic disorders.  For other families, the week at camp will be a time to renew wonderful friendships.  These families share strong bonds that have been reinforced over the years by their mutual support.  We are expecting five of the physicians from our medical advisory board to attend camp this summer with their families.  Drs. Barnes, Greenberg, Kaplin, Kerr, and Pidcock will provide an education program during the week for the parents and they will be available all week long to respond to questions.  After attending three of our camps, I can say that without any doubt, no one has a better time at camp than the physicians on our medical advisory board.  We are also expecting a number of adults from our community to be attending camp this summer as volunteers or as crew chiefs.  The crew chiefs are assigned the job of helping the children and the parents have a great time at camp.  This is not a difficult job; it is an incredibly rewarding one.

Victory Junction Gang Camp is a year-round camping environment for children, ages 6 to 16, with chronic medical conditions or serious illnesses.  Founded by Kyle and Pattie Petty in honor of their son Adam, the camp is located in Randleman, North Carolina with a second location opening soon in Kansas City, Kansas.  Victory Junction offers programs for 24 disease groups and maintains strong relationships with 22 partner hospitals.  Victory Junction’s mission is to provide life-changing camping experiences that are exciting, fun and empowering, in a safe and medically-sound environment.  As a not-for-profit organization, the camp operates solely through the support of generous donors to provide this experience at no charge to children and their families.  For more information about Victory Junction Gang Camp, please visit www.victoryjunction.org.
 
The partnership between The Transverse Myelitis Association and Victory Junction Gang Camp has been unique, innovative, and so successful.  The partnership is more accurately characterized as between the TMA and the exceptional physicians we have associated with our community and Victory Junction Gang Camp.  The presence of these physicians at camp, their active engagement with the children and families and their relationship with the camp staff and directors has been truly remarkable.  Victory Junction Gang Camp provides our families with a life-changing camp experience that is exciting, fun, empowering, safe and free.

We can never find the words to properly thank Victory Junction Gang Camp for all of what they give to our families and our community.  The relationship we have created in such a short time has been truly exceptional.  It takes a very special organization with very special people to be willing to foster this kind of relationship with a very rare disease community, represented by a very grass roots organization.  The TMA is so proud of our special relationship with Victory Junction Gang Camp and honored to have this partnership.