Okizu sturdy: A summer time of enjoyable as camp wraps up in Petaluma

PETALUMA, Calif. (KGO) — ABC7 Eyewitness News is a proud media sponsor of Okizu – and the Northern California nonprofit simply wrapped up its summer time camp season, offering a protected area for kids and households dealing with most cancers.

Walker Creek Ranch in Petaluma is certainly one of three areas throughout the Bay Area internet hosting Okizu summer time camp. Around 300 campers got here out this summer time to expertise what we name the “magic of Okizu.”

It would possibly seem like a typical summer time camp. Kids enjoying ball exterior. Arts and crafts. Water carnivals.

But the fact of what occurs right here goes far past that.

Surrounded by nature, the actual magnificence is “Okizu.”

“So I started coming as a young kid, and it was the best week of the year,” camp counselor Evan Vieira mentioned.

“It was a place to belong, a second family,” Vieira mentioned. “Getting to talk and meet people who are going through the same thing as me.”

Okizu means unity, to come back collectively and to heal.

Vieira misplaced his brother, Noah, in 2015 to a uncommon mind most cancers.

It began with seizures when he was 5 years outdated.

Noah’s nurse beneficial Okizu.

“I found a community of other bereaved siblings, and they really helped me deal with the loss of my brother and made me into the person I am today,” Vieira mentioned.

For the previous 20 years, Vieira has come again to be able to give again as a counselor, identical to Ashley Barth.

“Camp Okizu very quickly became a great support system for my family,” Barth mentioned.

About a month earlier than Barth’s third birthday, she was identified with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a fast-growing blood most cancers.

“I underwent treatment for the next two years,” Barth mentioned.

Each day preventing to outlive.

Now in remission for 15 years.

And she’s again at camp to assist different youngsters like her.

“It’s been very eye-opening,” Barth mentioned.

“I think growing up in a hospital, a lot of the adults I was around were doctors, nurses, and child life specialists. I want to be that influential adult in someone else’s life,” Barth mentioned.

Okizu’s Berry Creek campus burned down within the 2020 wildfires and has since been renting at varied areas in Livermore, Modesto and Petaluma.

“Back at Berry Creek, we were able to host 120 to 130 kiddos. This year, our largest site is around 86. That number alone is a big difference,” Barth mentioned.

The nonprofit provides 5 varieties of camps starting from oncology camp to sibling camp that assist households know they don’t seem to be alone.

One of the siblings attending this yr is Oakland native Sybil Gottesman.

“I just really like coming here, and I look forward to it,” Gottesman mentioned. “When my brother first got cancer, it was really close to my fifth birthday.”

Camp Okizu turned her second residence.

“It’s really nice to be around people that I know had rough times too,” Gottesman mentioned.

For Sybil and tons of of different youngsters like her, camp is an escape from actuality. Embracing enjoyable actions… and new friendships.

“Here at camp, in the mornings, the kiddos get to choose not one but two different activities that they are interested in,” Okizu Camp Director Alex Grimm mentioned.

From nature walks to bereavement counseling, to all of the speak at “Tadger Times.”

“Tadger Times is typically when we have a group of campers come in. They’ll have a little notebook where they can write down anything they want,” Nathaniel Muños mentioned.

Tadger is Okizu’s mascot.

“Nobody actually knows what he looks like,” Muños mentioned.

But that is a part of the enjoyable.

The campers all convene right here on the amphitheater a number of instances a day between actions to satisfy up with their camp counselors.

For these youngsters, it is all about constructing belief and energy with the ability of neighborhood.

That’s why these campers do not even share their actual names.

They give you nicknames. Like Bubbles, Kuma, and…

“Snow Cone!” introduced one little one.

A candy deal with to have fun summer time.

“It’s really inspiring and in the moments where there’s chaos… laughing… remembering that we’re just here to offer them the opportunity to be a child when there’s so much else going on at home… is honestly the best experience I’ve ever had,” mentioned Gilina Voon, camp counselor and scholar nurse.

“You came to camp as a camper… and here you are back as a nurse… what does that mean to you?” requested Stephanie Sierra.

“I have been going to camp for 9 years as a camper… it was the best week of my life… and the counselors are the reason I am who I am today…” Voon mentioned.

It’s what’s known as “Okizu strong.”

Learn find out how to get entangled with Okizu on their website or find out how to assist the non-profit’s marketing campaign to rebuild their new residence in Calaveras County on their donation page.