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Awa Janneh Mboge was exhausted. Her 23-month-old child had been in the hospital for a few days, and on their way home, Mboge got a flat tire. After waiting for a tow and loading the sick baby in the truck, she was ready for some well-deserved rest. But sleep is a rare commodity for the single mother of three. Her youngest had a neuroblastoma and went through a six-hour surgery to remove the tumor. When the baby was initially diagnosed, Mboge says she was in the hospital for nine months. Now the baby girl has had a brain injury and a stroke, resulting in problems with her vision and other side effects, so trips to the hospital are routine. Her young family's life was already turned upside down when her husband split for Alaska last year. Not long afterward, the baby was diagnosed with cancer. "Everything happens at the same time," Mboge said with a heavy sigh. "I need help, but I don't really get help." She worries about how the family's tragic downturn has affected her older children, a girl, 8, and a boy, just 2. "They've had lots of changes in their lives," the soft-spoken Mboge said. Mboge's voice brightens when she talks about her 8-year-old's week at a special camp for the siblings of kids with cancer. BRASS camp in Leonardtown is part of the Special Love for Children With Cancer program. Kura Mboge is there this week, the first time she's been away from home. Special Love sponsors a camp week in August for kids with cancer. "She was so excited to go. It's the first program she's done like this," Mboge said. She gets regular updates from a camp counselor and talks to her daughter, who she said is having a wonderful time so far. Dave Smith, director of Special Love for Children With Cancer, has been involved in the program since its inception in 1983. Founded by Tom and Sheila Baker after they lost their daughter to lymphoma, the camp has expanded from a one-week camp for 29 kids with cancer to 15 different programs for hundreds of families, siblings and parents. In the ensuing years, Smith's said there have been several studies on the positive psychological effects of similar camps. The experience, allowing kids to just be kids, not kids with cancer, raises self-esteem and confidence. But Smith doesn't need to read the studies for evidence of what he's witnessed for 27 years. Kids just want to be "normal," and at the Special Love Camps, they are just that. A flagging economy hasn't hurt the organization, which depends on no state or federal funding, but has survived quite well on private donations. Children attend free. Parents can pay a $25 application fee, but most receive that in a "scholarship." A doctor and nurse from the National Institutes of Health offer medical care at no cost to campers or Special Love. Regular contributors are loyal, Smith said, because the organization doesn't waste a dime, and people can see the immediate benefits of their donations. Special Love serves children in Maryland, Virginia and Washington. To learn more about this special place and the programs it offers, or to make a contribution, visit speciallove.org. Families like the Mboges deserve any help you can give. kheerbrandt@yahoo.com
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