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Konnected through a cause Calif. camp helps children cope while parents battle cancer By Bill KETTLER Words come easy to Miles Johnson when he talks about his trip to summer camp. "I did archery and canoeing," the 9-year-old Ashland boy says. "It was way up in the mountains. It was pretty beautiful, and it was really hot. We had to drink a lot of water to keep from getting dehydrated." Miles joined kids from as far away as New York and Illinois at Camp Oakes, near Big Bear, Calif. He and all the other campers shared one thing in common: everyone�s mom or dad had cancer. "It�s important for them to know they�re not alone in what�s happening to their family," says Miles� mother, Ara Johnson, who has breast cancer. Miles went to a camp organized by a California-based group called Kids Konnected. The camps help young people understand their parents� diseases by bringing kids together in an atmosphere that encourages them to relax and have fun. "They don�t know they�re having counseling," says Robyn Wagner-Holtz, who helps organize the camps. "They just think they�re having a heap of fun. "Before you know it, they�re laughing together and crying together and all those pent-up feelings come out." Ara Johnson learned about Kids Konnected when she was searching the Internet for information that could help her children cope with her illness. When she learned about the free summer camps, she wanted to send her two sons, Miles and Jeremy, 14, but her family couldn�t afford the air fare to the camps. (Kids Konnected pays all summer camp expenses except children�s transportation to and from camp). Johnson mentioned the group to another cancer patient, Joetta John of Central Point. John raised $3,500 � enough to send Miles and Jeremy and five other children from Southern Oregon and Northern California to camp. "I just got started talking to friends about it," she says. She also convinced the Safeway store in the Medford Shopping Center to adopt Kids Konnected as its community charity project. The store will sponsor a car show and barbecue next Saturday to raise money to send local children to Kids Konnected camp next summer. "I expect to send 20 kids next year," John says. Parents benefit from the camp experience, too, says Daniel Petit, whose daughter, Sally Anne, went to camp with Miles Johnson. "It�s really helpful for me to talk with other (cancer-patient) parents and share experiences," says Petit, who has chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The Etna, Calif., man says many parents think they have explained their cancer to children, but the parents forget that children�s understanding is limited by their age and experience. "Parents have a whole different perception of how much has been discussed than children do," he says. "It takes a lot of attention to do it properly and some people are struggling so much they don�t get it done. "When I went through chemo (therapy) I saw all kinds of different cancers," he says. "Just from the conversations I had with folks it was upsetting to see families going through lots of anguish and nobody talking and no resolution for the children." Although Kids Konnected is new in Southern Oregon, the organization has been helping children and parents since 1993. It started when Jon Wagner-Holtzwas went looking for somebody to talk to about his mom�s cancer. "I spent a lot of time crying by myself in my room," says Wagner-Holtz, who will turn 19 soon. "I thought (my mother) had enough to deal with. I didn�t want to share my feelings with her. Because there was nothing for kids, I decided to start a phone line." The phone line grew to include a support group and the idea gradually spread beyond Orange County, Calif. Kids Konnected now has local chapters in 20 states and maintains a 24-hour toll-free phone line for kids. The group also acquired tax-exempt, nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service. John, who raised the money to send kids to camp, hopes to organize a Kids Konnected chapter in Southern Oregon. "The need is here," she says, "and families get so excited when their kids are offered something in the middle of all this cancer." To reach Kids Konnected dial 1-800-899-2866, or visit the Web site at:www.kidskonnected.org Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA