Attending summer camp is a beloved tradition in many households. It provides a myriad of fun outdoor activities for kids, as well as opportunities to build lasting friendships and learn independence.
However, some children have medical conditions or disabilities that make attending most summer camps difficult or even potentially life-threatening. For those children, there exist places such as Texas Lions Camp, a residential summer camp established in 1949 and located in Kerrville that caters to children with special medical conditions.
One of those children is Cameron Caldwell (Cam for short), who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at 10 months old.
Cam is a Dallas/Fort Worth-area native and graduated from Aledo High School in 2017. He went on to graduate from Texas A&M University with a degree in biochemistry and genetics. Afterward, he attended the UTRGV School of Medicine in South Texas and later pursued a residency in a combined program for both pediatrics and internal medicine at Vanderbilt University.
“My passion in life is endocrinology,” Cam said. “I’ve lived with diabetes for over 26 years…My pursuit of a career in medicine is solely due to my experience of living with diabetes, the support I received from my family, and the education I received from my doctors over the years, and also my experience at Texas Lions Camp with Dr. Ponder and getting to go as a kid for six summers.
“I just felt the pull towards medicine. I initially thought that maybe I would practice pediatric medicine, but in pediatric endocrinology, I found that I was pulled in the direction of also taking care of adults with diabetes and other endocrine disorders.”
Texas Lions Camp and associated clubs deeply impacted Cam’s life. The Aledo and Weatherford Lions clubs sponsored Cam so he could attend camp. Besides allowing him to attend camp, the Aledo Lions Club ran the basketball league Cam played in as a child, giving him a sense of community beyond his diabetes journey.
Cam’s journey came full circle this year as he volunteered on the Texas Lions Camp’s medical staff.
Texas Lions Camp has separate camp sessions tailored towards children with physical disabilities, Down Syndrome, cancer, and Type 1 Diabetes. They also have family camp so siblings and parents or guardians can also attend Texas Lions Camp. The kids get to participate in activities that might otherwise be out of their reach and include fishing, archery, swimming, a ropes course, arts and crafts, and more. The diabetes program has been overseen by Dr. Ponder for more than 40 years.
“Camp is a place that kids with all types of disabilities… [are] able to come together and finally find a community of people that look like them, that live similar lives to them…Not everybody understands the plight of kiddos with really any disability,” Cam said. “So finding other kids and even other adults to kind of look up to that have gone through the same things is very important because then you realize, ‘I’m gonna be OK. Yeah, there’s somebody out there who gets it.’”
The Texas Lions Camp medical staff (of which there were about 40 members during one week Cam volunteered) works hard to make the camp a safe and enjoyable experience for campers with all sorts of different needs. For the diabetes session (of which the camp has two separate summer sessions), much of the medical staff’s work involves monitoring the campers’ blood sugar levels throughout the day and night and appropriately dosing insulin. They also have medical staff monitoring all the activities with fast-acting glucose on hand in case a child has low blood sugar. If a child is feeling ill after an activity or has a non-diabetes related issue, they are allowed to take a break in the infirmary, where they are also closely monitored.
When asked about what one of his favorite parts of camp as a volunteer was, Cam replied that he loved seeing the kids come out of their shells.
“You can tell at the beginning of the week that some kids are nervous to be there. They’re not quite so sure of themselves. They’re not quite as comfortable being away from family,” Cam said. “But as the week goes, you can really see them open up, and all of them are just so open and willing to learn and to talk with each other about different topics, different struggles.
“During medical education sessions, they really get into it because that’s the first time that they can really talk about it, and everyone around them will listen and care and understand some of the things that they’re talking about,” he said.
As they grow more confident, the kids also learn independence and how to manage their conditions. They gain knowledge about things like doing their own insulin injections or their first pump site change.
“Those things are really meaningful,” Cam said. “And when they get home, that’s kind of a launching board for them to be able to tell their parents, ‘Hey, I did this at camp, can I try it at home?’ …I think it really helps them be a little less self-conscious about some things.”
Cam is continuing to work on completing his residency program. Since his focus includes both pediatrics and adult medicine, he switches between the two every three months. In addition to finishing residency, he hopes to serve on the Texas Lions Camp staff or do similar service as frequently as possible, adding that “it’s the best place in the world.”
According to the Texas Lions Camp website, the cost to attend camp is about $1,850 per child per week. However, thanks to the generous contributions of Lions Club members and other individuals, the campers and their families do not have to pay a dime.
To learn more about Texas Lions Camp, visit https://www.lionscamp.com. For more information about the Aledo Community Lions Club, visit https://www.e-clubhouse.org/sites/aledo/. For more information about the Aledo Lions Youth Basketball Association (ALYBA) and Aledo Lions Youth Activities Inc, visit https://www.aledolions.com. They all also have Facebook pages.
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