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Camp offers break for children with cancer

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Tommy Carroll of Glenview, Ill. who is blind, waterskis while at One Step At A Time, a camp at Aurora University in Williams Bay, Wis.

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Tommy Carroll of Glenview, Ill. who is blind, waits in the water to recieve the tow rope while at One Step At A Time, a camp at Aurora University in Williams Bay, Wis.

Photo

Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Kids and counselors at One Step At A Time, a camp for children who have or had cancer at Aurora University in Williams Bay, Wis., pause their busy days for a moment to eat lunch.

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Photo by Matthew Wisniewski

Ryan Riordan skis behind the boat while, from left, Matt Mandarino, Tommy Carroll, counselor Hillary Harper and Alex Koltun watch. Carroll, who is blind, and Koltun are attending One Step at a Time, a summer camp for child cancer survivors at Aurora University in Williams Bay.

WILLIAMS BAY — Jim Zaino fought for his life 32 years ago.

At the age of 13, doctors diagnosed him with acute lymphocytic leukemia, a cancer of the blood common among children under 13.

Two years into his treatment, Zaino, of River Forest, Ill., became one of the first children to attend a camp designed for kids with cancer.

Dr. Edward Baum, a pediatric oncologist in Chicago, started camp One Step At A Time in 1978 as a summer sanctuary for children battling cancer.

Nearly 40 children attended camp in its inaugural season. This summer, the camp’s 30th summer, more than 250 campers and nearly 200 volunteer staff flocked to the shores of Geneva Lake in Williams Bay.

For the past two weeks, campers have taken a break from their battles to enjoy being a kid.

Zaino included.

Camp never leaves

Now a leader of the camp craft program, Zaino remembers when he first came as a camper to One Step At A Time.

"When we first started, camp was just simple programs," he said. "And being such a small group, we were able to get so close."

Zaino met his wife at camp.

"Everyone thought it was just going to be a camp fling," he said laughing.

Not the case. Zaino and his wife celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary this year.

Because of the marriage, Zaino took time off from camp to raise his family, returning to camp last summer for the first time in 18 years.

But while away from camp, Zaino didn’t lose touch with what he learned there.

"All of the memories started flooding back," he said staring Wednesday across Geneva Lake.

A camper ran up and sat next to him.

"The people you knew and the people who are gone kept coming back,” he said.

The friends who lose their fight against cancer are the hardest parts about camp, Zaino said.

All walks of life

Joey Coogan, 14, loves camp because he can be himself.

"It's such a different place," he said. "It's nice not to be a cancer boy any more."

Coogan, also an acute lymphocytic leukemia survivor, said life with cancer outside of camp is difficult because most people don't understand what a cancer patient goes through.

"I don't like being a cancer boy," he said. "And that's something you can really get away from at camp."

Being a camper at One Step At A Time isn't the end of his involvement with camp, Coogan said. He hopes to give back either through donations or volunteering with the camp "as much as he can."

Challenges

Water-skiing might seem like a challenge to an able-bodied person.

Imagine being blind.

Tommy Carroll, 15, is a diver certified by the Handicap Scuba Association. He loves to skateboard and has spent a day with professional skateboarder Tony Hawk. He downhill skis and learned to water-ski last summer.

He’s legally blind.

In Wednesday afternoon’s heat and sun, Carroll strapped on a lifejacket, stuffed his feet into a pair of water skis and jumped into Geneva Lake, leaving fear and inability in the boat. He grabbed the towline as the boat throttled up and roared off.

Carroll was up on his first try.

Others in the boat cheered as Carroll began cut across the boat's wake.

"There are so many good things about camp," he said before getting on the boat. "There are people here with metal in their legs or no legs, and they get to SCUBA dive or water-ski."

"It just goes to show that there's nothing really different about us."

Editors note: Ryan Dostalek is a former camper and a long-time counselor at One Step At A Time camp.