Camp lends comfort to children
Travis Rager, 13, of Norton,
has a ball playing Bungee Basketball while at camp.
Taking part in Carnival Day activities
Aug. 6 at the Aluminum Cans for Burned Children-sponsored
camp are Sam Pratt, 13, of Hudson, at left, and Christian
Kinsinger, 11, of Sandy Valley.
Mary Tarleton, 15, of Hartville, at left, is shown with camp volunteer Dana Csonka, of Strasburg, a fellow burn survivor who attended the camp as a youth and now spends a week each year volunteering. Photos: Krista Galloway
By Kathleen Folkerth
NEW FRANKLIN — There’s one week each summer that Mary Tarleton looks forward to all year. It’s a week where she can be who she is without worrying about stares or comments from other people.
Mary, 15, attends the annual camp for children who have been treated for burns at Akron Children’s Hospital. The camp, sponsored by the Summit/Stark County Chapter of Aluminum Cans for Burned Children (ACBC), is held at the Akron Rotary Camp at Portage Lakes.
“It makes me feel better,” Mary said of the one-week overnight camp, which she has attended for about seven years. “I don’t have to care what I look like.”
Mary, the daughter of Shelley Kirby and the late Dave Tarleton, is one of 28 children ages 7 to 17 attending the camp this year, according to Julie Klein, a burn educator at Children’s and organizer of the annual camp. The children come from the 27 counties in Northeast Ohio that are served by the hospital and its burn center.
The camp is free to the children who attend thanks to the efforts of the ACBC. Also, the Wind and Fire Motorcycle Club hosts an annual Poker Run that provides much of the funding for the camp, Klein said.
During a break on the first full day of camp Aug. 6, Mary talked about why she loves the camp so much.
“Everybody is nice,” she said.
Her favorite part of the week is Fire Truck Day, on which area fire departments send their trucks and the campers get to spray and be sprayed by the hoses. The Akron Fire Department’s foam truck is among the highlights of the day, Mary said.
This year, Mary’s older brother and younger sister will take part in that event for the first time.
“They never really understood
what I was talking about,” she said, so she looks
forward to them getting to
participate this year.
Mary grew up in Akron and Fairlawn
but moved to Hartville a few years ago. She attends
burn camp because of injuries she received when she
was 2. It was then that she managed to get through a
safety gate and find a cup that contained drain cleaner,
which she began to drink. Her older sister found her
and got her to spit out the chemical, but it then splashed
onto her body, causing burns on her leg, a foot, down
her chest and on part of her face.
She said she sometimes has nightmares
about the incident today, although her memories of what
happened are cloudy.
Earlier this summer, Mary had
surgery on some of the
scars that are on her chest. She’d like to lessen
their appearance so she can wear lower cut shirts. The
surgery took place at Shriners Hospital for Children
in Cincinnati.
Mary said she has endured taunts
and comments from others, mostly classmates.
“There wasn’t a time
of day when someone wouldn’t say something,”
Mary said.
She said middle school was tough
and she looks forward to starting high school this fall.
Her experiences at burn camp
have made an impression on the teenager. She said she’d
like to either become a nurse and work in the burn unit
at Children’s or become a cosmetologist
to help other burn patients look
their best.
Mary said she’d also like
to become a counselor at the camp when she is older.
She’d like to follow in the footsteps of her counselor,
Amy Dillon, of New Philadelphia, who was a camper for
many years before becoming a counselor at the Rotary
Camp.
“This is a great place
for kids to come and be themselves,” Dillon said.
Klein said most local fire departments
collect aluminum cans for ACBC. She suggested that those
interested in donating call first to make sure the station
has a bin for collecting.
For more information on the camp
or the burn center at Children’s,
call (330) 543-8813 or go to www.akronchildrens.org.
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