There aren’t many places that my family can go overnight without raising any eyebrows. With three children we don’t travel light anyway, but with my kids we add in 3 CPAPs, an airway clearance machine that comes in its own travel bag and weighs 34lbs, a cough assist machine, a wheelchair, countless medications and medical supplies and a service dog.

My children are all Seattle Children’s patients and between them hit over 100 appointments there every year, plus additional visits to other out-of-state hospitals and countless weekly therapies. When we get the offer of time off for fun, we jump in with all feet!

Camp Korey is the one and only place that offers us that opportunity with no restrictions on fun, or safety. All 3 of my kids can partake in every activity, including my very complex, wheelchair-using son. Where else can he try rock climbing? And no one cares if they refuse to try any activity and do something else instead, as often happens with my youngest who would rather don her helmet and ride her scooter up and down, instead of playing ball games.

My kids love the fun, but the key for us is the safety. As the parents of a medically complex kid who could literally require an emergency ride to the hospital at the first signs of any illness, we have no one nearby who we can leave him with for a few hours respite, and being any distance from the nearest children’s hospital strikes fear into my soul!

But, as I leave our house and head north towards Camp Korey I find that I can leave that fear behind for the duration of our stay within those gates. I know that Camp Korey is a safe place for my son because of the amazing onsite medical staff who know him well and I trust will act immediately if needed.

And the fact that that child, who has medical PTSD and generally refuses to be away from me, is even contemplating attending a camper-only week this summer, and that I’m actually ok with that idea, well that’s just the icing on the very large Camp Korey cake!!