Colin Glaes was in third grade when he heard the news: his mother had breast cancer. For the next two years, with her job as a code enforcement officer for the Palo Alto Police Department on hold, Colin’s mom Judy Glaes went through round after exhausting round of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. It was a tough way for Colin to grow up. Yet each summer there was one bright spot.
Shortly after Judy’s diagnosis, a Stanford Hospital social worker told the family about Camp Kesem, a project initiated in 2000 by undergraduates in Hillel, the umbrella organization for Jewish student groups on campus. Kesem—which means “magic” in Hebrew—is a free, nonsectarian camp open to any child age 6 to 14 whose parent is in treatment, in remission or has died from cancer. In addition to giving the campers a fun week away from the worries of home, the program lets them bond with others in the same boat.
Colin, now 13 and an accomplished woodwind player in his middle school band, has been to Camp Kesem four summers in a row. His mother’s cancer is now in remission. “At first I was nervous, but when it was over I didn’t want to leave,” Colin recalls of his first camp experience. “With the other kids, you can talk with them—like, you can feel free to say stuff about cancer.” The Stanford student volunteer counselors, he adds, “are the best that ever walked the planet.”
In many ways, Kesem provides a typical summer idyll. This year’s program, located in the rolling hills north of the Russian River, included the standard boisterous camp songs, lanyard weaving, tie-dyeing, swimming, hiking and a ropes course. At other times, though, the 86 campers had opportunities to reflect on the struggles going on at home. During nightly “cabin chats,” counselors gently encouraged the children to discuss their feelings about cancer and life in general. One day the camp held an optional memorial service for children who had lost a parent. Another service was designed to comfort those whose parents are fighting cancer or are in remission.
Freshman Galen Thompson was one of 49 Stanford students who volunteered as counselors at Camp Kesem this past summer. He was so moved by the experience—which included 40 hours of training by Stanford experts on grief—he’s now considering a career that involves children. “The kids definitely left their mark on me,” notes Thompson, a Stanford soccer player who is thinking of majoring in religious studies. “They just want to be kids, yet they deal with stuff you’d think would be impossible to deal with.”
One 14-year-old camper’s mother died this year on the last day of camp. “There were four kids in her group, and they circled her with hugs,” recalls Camp Kesem project coordinator Debbie Sadow, whose father had stomach cancer when she was a teen. “The great thing about this camp is that it helps kids to see that life goes on.”
Funding for Kesem’s $130,000 annual budget relies entirely on donations by individuals, corporations and foundations. Yet the Stanford program has been so successful that students have started four other Camp Kesems across the country—at Duke, Northwestern, Notre Dame and UC-San Diego—serving nearly 200 children in all. Judy Glaes, for one, couldn’t be happier about it. “Camp Kesem has not just touched Colin’s heart, it has touched mine,” she explains. “He knows and he has seen that life can be happy even after the death of a parent.” And that, she says, “is some gift.”
