Illnesses do not take vacations, but chronically ill children need to.

Dianne was just a two-month-old baby when she was diagnosed with leukaemia.

‘I don't really remember much, I know I spent a lot of time in hospitals, I also have scars from the treatment... But I'm over it... Of course, there are still a few things, for example, I shouldn't strain myself, I shouldn't stress too much , otherwise the disease may reappear. Well, those cells can be activated in anyone, but for me the risk is higher, because I already had leukaemia.’

I met Dianne at the end of the climbing activity at Yuppi Camp. She was tired, but she had a huge smile on her face.

’Wow, I thought I wouldn't be able to get down, did you see that I got stuck in the swing? I couldn't pull the rope to unlock myself. I panicked, I thought that I would definitely not be able to get down from there, that I will get hurt, and I got more and more scared, but in the end I managed to get down. Then I tried a second time, because everyone encouraged me.’

On the second attempt, Dianne managed to unhook the rope. When she got down from the swing, the other girls congratulated her with a group hug. 

’When I arrived to the camp, I was quite anxious, I didn't want to talk to anyone, neither the volunteers - the Elves, as we call them here - nor my roommates. I was ashamed of everyone, but not anymore. I befriended a lot of children here. ’

Annually, 400 children are diagnosed with diabetes, 420 children learn that they have cancer*, and the number of those diagnosed with an autoimmune disease is even today unknown. The lives of these children, these families, change in a matter of seconds. The small everyday joys are replaced by helplessness, fear and anxiety, feelings that never go away. Hundreds of plans are cancelled, all certainties become uncertainties. But a camp should not be like that!

Because illnesses do not take vacations, but chronically ill children need to. Offer now a chance at childhood for children like Dianne!

P.S. Dianne is a pseudonym as we want to protect the family's privacy.

* According to the National Childhood Cancer Registry (NCCR)