Every summer, children in
communities across Oklahoma gear up for summer – fishing, swimming, sleepovers,
playing baseball. In those same communities live hundreds of ordinary children
living through extraordinary medical challenges; children who too often have to
watch while others play, walk while others run, and hope for a time when
illness no longer limits their opportunities to have a good time.
The Cavett Kids Foundation was
founded to ensure that Oklahoma’s chronically and seriously ill children have
the same access to outdoor fun as healthy kids. Many children in treatment miss
out on typical character-building opportunities - things like Boy Scouts and
Girl Scouts, team sports, even after-school activities - due to illness. Camp provides the opportunity to experience
childhood the way it is supposed to be lived, with hands in the dirt, and a
worm on the hook. Camp allows these kids to establish an identity away from the
treatment room, to instill confidence while creating connections. This is the
Cavett Kids experience – reminding campers their illness does not have to limit
their ability to have a full life.