The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

Children With Illnesses Find Fun in Sebago Lake Retreat

June 24, 2009 - CASCO -- Liza Talusan watches her 5-year-old daughter play with other children on the playground, and is struck by the way the youngsters almost instinctively connect to one another.

It's partly because of the beautiful wooded surroundings. It's partly because that children are naturally drawn to one another in times of play.

But it's also because they share a common trait: Each of them faces a life-threatening illness.

"Look at Joli, she is leading around a completely blind girl, helping a blind kid scale a jungle gym," Talusan said of her daughter, a cancer survivor. "We've waited all year for this – to come to this place where our kids are normal."

Camp Sunshine has campers from 44 states staying beside the shores of Sebago Lake this week, and volunteers from 12 states are there to help.

The camp for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families has a basketball court donated by the Utah Jazz, and a session sponsored by the New Jersey Nets.

Yet despite its national reputation and draw, after a quarter of a century of business, this unique camp is still characterized by a purely Maine appeal.

"I don't know what it is about the healing appeal, but there is a family that drove 18 hours from Tennessee; another that drove from Ohio," said Talusan, of Brockton, Mass., who was at Camp Sunshine this week along with families who have children with retinoblastoma, a cancer of the eye.

"What is your motto? Vacationland? This is our vacation land. In cancer families, nobody has the money to do vacations."

In the year of its 25th anniversary, which will be celebrated on June 27 – and during a recession no less – Camp Sunshine shows signs of growth, and the families staying there this week surmise that's because it is a quintessential Maine retreat.

The Maine outdoors speaks at this nonprofit camp through the pines around the picnic tables, the tiny cove protected by several small islands, and the wading pond where each session ends with a ceremony to honor campers' dreams. And the effect of the woods and lake can be seen in the progress made at the 23-acre retreat.

There were 22 sessions last year, and the camp may well hold 25 this year. Camp Sunshine's endowment of several million dollars is growing, officials say. And there is a list of thousands of volunteers from around the country who staff the year-round programs.

"People said at the start, 'She's crazy. It's a nice thing to do, but it's just not in the cards.' (But) it took on a life of its own," said founder Anna Gould, who lives in Boston.

The campers with illnesses who come here with their families pay nothing to enjoy the lake kayaking, canoeing or fishing. They strive to scale the woodland challenge course and relax along wooded paths.

There is also a pool, a crafts room and a theater complete with costumes. But for Gould, who purchased the land at Point Sebago Resort with her ex-husband in 1968, the soul of Camp Sunshine rests in the quiet Maine landscape.

"As busy as Sebago Lake gets, the cove is quiet. We try to keep it as pristine and natural as we can," Gould said.

Of course, the best testament to what some campers call Camp Sunshine's "restorative powers" is the phenomenal way the campers play here.

Elliott Flah, who came to volunteer from Florida, saw it when he coached a blind 9-year-old girl in archery.

Flah described the distance to the target, explained what it would feel like to walk it, then watched the quiet girl nail the bull's-eye.

"A lot of life is what they can't do. This is supposed to be a week that they can do anything," Flah said. "She hit the target, and it was the best shot of the day. She just pointed it in the right direction."

This year marks the fourth visit to Camp Sunshine for the Talusan family.

"We are in isolation (in the city)," Liza Talusan said. "We come here, and there are 30 families who have children with retinoblastoma."

Laura Nasser, who is from busy and built-up New Haven, Conn., said it is the outdoor tranquility and natural beauty at Camp Sunshine that unites her family.

"It's fun just to relax here," agreed Nasser's 13-year-old daughter, Noura. "The places we relax at home are really boring. These places have more of a fun feeling to them, the beach and the woods."

By DEIRDRE FLEMING, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, June 18, 2009


Lakes:
Regions: Sebago


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News