Cruising the Caribbean? Taking a gamble in Vegas? Skiing? Lazing on a pink sand beach somewhere?
Michael Johnson, director of ambulatory operations at UTMB’s League City Campus, could do just about anything with his PTO each year. But what he chooses to do is care—even more than usual. To connect. To make a difference in the lives of children who maybe don’t get to experience summer like other kids.
Johnson is a counselor at Rainbow Connection Camp, an annual weeklong adventure for children with a variety of medical conditions. It’s run by the nonprofit Childhood Cancer Connection and held for a week each summer in Burton, Texas.
At the camp, pediatric patients with cancer and other illnesses, as well as the children of parents with cancer and siblings of cancer patients, get to kick back and do the things “normal” kids do at summer camp—horseback riding, rope courses, fishing, canoeing, campfires, arts and crafts, cooking… nothing out of the ordinary, really.
But what is extraordinary is the impact the camp has on those campers.
“They get to develop connections with kids who are like them, kids who have gone through cancer, who have had siblings that have gone through cancer, and they get to see that they're normal kids and can do things normal kids do,” Johnson said. “They're shy sometimes. They’re uncertain sometimes and don't know quite what to do, but they look at their colleagues around them and see, “Hey, if somebody else is doing it, I can do it too.”
Long-term relationships, lifelong impact
The camp was started in 1984; Johnson became involved in 2002 and has stayed involved faithfully ever since. He started as a board member at the request of a family friend. But once he visited the camp, he was convinced to become a counselor.
“I just fell in love with the camp,” Johnson said. “I just really enjoy the mission of it and just seeing the difference that it makes in kids’ lives.”
Camp Rainbow Connection accepts children from ages 6 to 15, many of whom return year after year. At 16, they can become junior counselors and then come back as counselors when they’re 21. Johnson and his fellow counselors develop long-term relationships with many of the campers.
A Cub Scout, Boy Scout and avid camper growing up, Johnson said he watched his father mentor fatherless boys.
“That really made a mark on me,” he said, “and I wanted to give back in that same way. It’s really fulfilling to me to think that I can help someone who is maybe in need. And it's just amazing to get the kids back every year.”
Johnson shared a story about one camper who was having trouble adjusting, getting into arguments and fights with fellow campers. He was about 7 at the time.
“I would talk to him and just kind of try to be there for him and try to help him along,” Johnson said “When he was about 11 or 12, he said, ‘Mr. Mike, I really appreciate you spending the time talking to me and just helping me see how things should be done. It just really made a big difference.’”
Most of the children who attend the camp are UTMB patients, but the family ties between UTMB and the camp don’t end there. Lance Hallberg, adjunct assistant professor, Population Health & Health Disparities, and adjunct professor, Pharmacology & Toxicology, is the current president of the camp. And Johnson’s children, who were able to attend because of their father’s volunteer work, now are counselors at the camp.
“There’s a whole host of people that make camp possible,” Johnson said. “We have a great board. We have great counselors and volunteers who come together to make it possible.
“I'm so thankful that I got a chance to be a part of the organization,” he said. “I just really enjoy it.”