Living with Diabetes

Confidence has two meanings.

The first, most common, is the feeling of being self-assured in everything you do.

The second refers to confidence, as in confiding in someone to keep a secret.

When you know you are different from everyone else, confidence can be elusive.

Camp Confidence

About 20 years ago, Camp Confidence was created to give children with type 1 diabetes the opportunity to participate in a summer day camp program. Located near the Des Plaines River, this is a week-long camp for children ages 4-9 years old.

For one week, they get to meet other kids dealing with the same daily challenges they face:

• measuring their blood glucose
• watching what they eat
• taking insulin by shot or by pump.

The Camp gives children the confidence to accept who they are and to get the most out of life, being confident that diabetes can't stop them. They gain confidence by seeing others just like themselves. And they have a special place that only they know about, which makes it a secret to everyone else.

In that one short week, the children participate in group activities, swim in the pool, play sports and learn about diabetes from the counselors, many of whom are have type 1 diabetes themselves.

It's a happy and active place, not a place for self-pity.

Strong Staff Support

From a casual viewpoint, it is no different than any other camp. However, each group is staffed with a couple of nurses who help manage the children throughout the day, checking blood glucose, treating lows and giving insulin after meals or for highs.

Many volunteers offer their services, some for a single day, some for the whole week. Some counselors were once campers. Other counselors may have a younger sibling who has diabetes and they volunteer to help out.

In the course of the week, the kids saw an animal show, a puppet show, created tie-dye shirts, made and then broke a piñata, got a visit from a firefighter, and a surprise guest... none other than Bears coach Lovie Smith, whose family has been impacted with diabetes too.

Excellent care all around, so parents can leave their kids and their worries as they drop them off for camp. For the parents, there's a daily speaker who spends about an hour every morning talking about specific care-related topics, if they choose to attend the presentation.

On the last day, the children put on a show for the parents, singing,

"I got that Camp Confidence feeling
Up in my head,
Up in my head.
I got that Camp Confidence feeling
Today and every day."

For the children, it's a chance to build confidence about themselves and make new friends, possibly friends for life. For the grownups,

"I got that Camp Confidence music
Stuck in my head,
Stuck in my head,
Today and every day."

- Mike Olijnyk, parent of a camper, Park Ridge, IL