…. what fun we had! My only regret was that I couldn’t stay longer than a day and a half.

Camp kicked off for us staff at 10:30am on Sunday. We all worked together to get the last of the set up done, although I can’t take much credit aside from being a gopher… the doctors, nurses, dietitians and assorted bods at Diabetes Auckland had done an absolutely fantastic job of getting everything organised for a week-long camp for 43 9-12 year olds with diabetes.

At 1pm the kids and their parents started to arrive, and we got into the swing of getting them registered. I had the 9 year old kids in my group (see them above) and for most of them it was their first time at camp, and for many of them it was their first time away without their Mums and Dads giving their injections…. really scary stuff for the kids and of course the parents too.

I have to say I found it really interesting getting into the mindset of the parents of these little battlers. Being 16 when I was diagnosed, I was reasonably independent (which is not to say my parents didn’t do a million things to help me settle in which I am so grateful for). However some of these kids have had diabetes since they were two years old… I can’t even imagine how difficult that must be for parents. There were a couple of kids in our group who not only had diabetes, but also coeliac disease… honestly I take my hat off to them and their parents for the crazy amount of work which must go in every single day to make sure their health is on track.

Anyway, an hour later and the kids were all running around their dorms and the parents were all scattered about helping their little ones settle in, or swapping hints and tips with other parents. It must be a great forum for them to talk to parents with the same concerns and difficulties as them…. and while it must be a bit of a relief to have a break from the daily grind of testing, injecting, weighing, carb counting and treating hypos and highs, it must also be quite difficult to leave their kids there.

Anyway – I don’t want to write a novel, so I’ll sum up with a few insights I gained from camp.

1. It’s absolutely incredible how quickly 9 year olds become best pals.
2. Kids with diabetes are tough. They freely lurch at their mini-digits with a lancet and have absolutely no qualms about drawing blood.
3. Kids are a lot more switched on than you might give them credit for. Most of them could draw up their own injections, figure out their corrections, and a hefty percentage of the older kids all did their own injections. They knew when they were heading for a low and they knew what to do to treat it.
4. Diabetes (kid or not) requires you to carry around a truckload of medication.
5. The diabetes dietitians are incredible…. churning out low sugar, low fat meals and weighing every morsel, plus providing gluten free alternatives. Noone went hungry and most of the meals when I was there were a huge hit.
6. Kids these days know way too much about how to get an adult in trouble. One of my nine year olds asked if I had a lawyer and when I said yes, she told me I needed to call the lawyer and get them to sue the establishment for making all the children go to bed at 8:30!
7. You can never be too careful what you say in front of your children. They WILL mimic you. I was walking one little girl (again, a nine year old) to the loos and she sighed and said “I am just dyyying for a glass of wine”. I tried not to completely crack up.

Anyway, to round it all up, I just wanted to say how rewarding it was to go to camp and help out even for a day and a half. To be part of giving the kids a chance to meet other kids with the condition, and to make them feel completely normal as they navigate through the daily challenges diabetes brings: blood tests, injections, lows, highs, frustration, planning and precaution. Three of the helpers were guys in their early 20s who had met at camp when they were kids and remained friends. I hope some of the kids we met in 2009 will be back in ten years to help out the next young ones.

As for me – I’ll be back next year if they’ll have me.