COUNSELOR

Dawson, of Clintonville, credits the camp in Morrow County for changing her life. That life was complicated when she was diagnosed, at just the age of 5, with a complete blockage of her heart.

The young woman is one of just a handful of campers-turned-counselors at Flying Horse Farms, which was founded in 2010 and celebrated its 100th camp session this summer.

The 200-acre camp is the only Ohio camp in the SeriousFun Children’s Network of camps for children with serious illnesses. It is free for attendees.

Dawson, who was leading the camp’s post-breakfast dance party on a recent day, bounced around to each of the cafeteria tables in the camp’s dining hall, encouraging the children to get up and dance with her near the large fireplace.

Once she’d gathered the children, she stood facing them all, heartily singing along to the lyrics of “Africa” and “I Would Walk 500 Miles.” She swung her arms, fist-pumping to the beat of one song, making the “It’s a place where kids can just be kids,” Rachel Dawson said of Flying Horse Farms. It’s also a place where Dawson said she can be herself and act like the “big kid” she says she is at heart. children — all of whom have cancer or a blood disease — laugh and mimic her motions.

Flying Horse Farms offers weekend and weeklong sessions in spring, summer and fall. Campers are ages 8 to 15 with serious illnesses, as well as their siblings and family members.

The goal is for campers to “leave their illness at the door,” Dawson said. “They get to do whatever they want to do. There’s really no ‘no’ here.”

Children with serious illnesses are often told they can’t do the same things as other kids. Flying Horse Farms doesn’t want any child to feel different or left out, so its team of doctors and nurses make changes to activities to allow all children to participate, said Nichole Dunn, who became the camp’s president and CEO in January.

The camp staff made it possible for Dawson to use the zip line with other kids when she first came to a family camp at the age of 15. A doctor padded a chest harness so she could wear it without it affecting the pacemaker that’s in her chest. Dawson attended as a camper twice and then as a ranger — older campers who help make camp happen — before volunteering there three summers while in college.

“It’s a place where kids can just be kids,” she said. It’s also a place where Dawson said she can be herself and act like the “big kid” she says she is at heart.

Since taking the helm of the camp, Dunn hopes to learn about some of the experiences that people have had at the camp and ask campers, volunteers and counselors how their life is different because of it.

“We have campers who have been here every year for eight years,” Dunn said. “Others are out in the world doing other things and telling about their camp experiences. How can we harness that?”

If asked how camp changed her life, Dawson knows what she’d say.

“It’s one of the most impactful experiences I’ve had,” she said, noting that she found her future career path there. She’ll start studying for her master’s degree at Ohio University in the fall.

Dawson wants to be a child-life specialist — someone who helps children and families through a child’s hospital experience. She realized it after meeting the full-time, child-life specialist at Flying Horse Farms, Kristen “Cricket” Patterson, her first time at camp.

“She’s going to be exceptional,” Patterson said of Dawson. “She’s so natural with children.”

Not long after the dance party, Dawson stood at the waterfront dock as children fished.

Though another counselor, lovingly called “Lucas the Smoochest,” is the designated fish-kisser as part of the camp’s “catch, kiss, release” motto, one little girl wanted Dawson to kiss the fish she’d caught.

Dawson complied, smiling at the girl before puckering up for a slimy smooch.