Gaining hope after loss
Families get respite from death at free grief camp
Ten-year-old Cameron misses his dad coaching his baseball team. His twin sister, Shaelyn, misses her dad tucking her in at night with her stuffed frog, “Lily Mae.” Their younger sister, Sarah, 8, was all smiles talking about the family’s trip to Disney World last May, just two months before their world turned upside down when their father, Christopher Leonard, died suddenly at age 56.
“It’s the worst thing ever,” said their mother, Colleen. “There wasn’t a plan B.”
On Saturday and Sunday, the Leonard children plan to attend Camp Kangaroo in Natick, a free grief camp run by the Seasons Hospice Foundation for kids who have lost a family member. Cameron shares his father’s taste in music, both fans of Billy Joel and Cat Stevens, and is looking forward to writing a song at camp. Shaelyn is excited to make arts and crafts. Sarah can’t wait to eat the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and pet therapy dogs.
The siblings will be among 40 youngsters, ages 4 to 16, who recently lost a loved one. There will be lots of fun activities like water balloon games and karate as well as creative arts therapy, where kids express themselves through art, music and movement. “I feel like it will make me a bit more comfortable seeing that I know there’s more people that lost a parent,” Sarah told me Thursday at the family’s Rockland home.
Camp Kangaroo began a decade ago and holds camps nationwide. This is the second year it’s come to the Boston area.
“We really just want them to know that they’re not alone in this,” said Evelyn Amato, director of supportive care for Seasons Hospice in Massachusetts. “There are other children who can relate to what this feels like.”
The Leonard kids miss karaoke nights with their father. They miss his Saturday morning adventures to a local park with their yellow labradors Dakota and Cooper.
“He was an awesome dad,” Colleen said of her husband of 14 years.
Colleen, a Special Olympics swim coach, learned about the camp through her children’s school, the South Shore Charter Public School in Norwell. Her children don’t like to talk about their father’s passing, Colleen said, and she hopes her kids open up to fellow campers. She’s happy her kids have the opportunity to attend the camp and that they can connect with other kids who have been through similar trauma.
“He loved being a dad,” Colleen said. “He just wanted to be with his kids.”
Last spring, Christopher put on a Batman costume and Colleen dressed up as Snow White to surprise their kids with the Disney trip. At dinner, they share funny memories about their father, a truck driver who loved life.
Those are warm memories — and ones the kids hopefully cherish forever.
It’s sad this camp has to exist, but these families are grateful it does so their grieving children have a place to share their experiences.