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Camp For Grieving Children Helps With Healing Process

Camp Comfort Provides Support To Cope With Loss

POSTED: 4:57 pm MDT August 31, 2006
UPDATED: 7:14 pm MDT August 31, 2006

Comforting a child who has lost a parent, a brother, a sister or a close friend is something families struggle with everyday.

Camp Comfort is a place just for kids who are grieving. It's a place you will see through the eyes of Logan Peitzman, who is the son of former 7NEWS meteorologist Pam Daale who lost her battle with cancer two years ago.

"Being here I can let out my feelings. Sometimes, usually I don't get to," said Logan.

Logan was just 5 and his sister Taryn was 8 when their mom died of breast cancer.

"One of the things we want them to know is that it's ok to keep talking about the person," said a counselor at Camp Comfort.

That has been a hard thing for Logan.

"I don't really like to talk about it to people who haven't had someone die in their family," said Logan.

At Camp Comfort, Logan is not alone. Every child here is dealing with loss and struggling with words to describe what that feels like.

"We want you guys to start thinking about all the different feelings you guys have had since you found out the person in your family died," said a counselor.

Every child at Camp Comfort is assigned an adult buddy. The buddy is someone to play with, talk with and above all, is someone who is there to listen.

"It's not tough to come up here. I look forward to it," said Tom Gill.

Tom Gill has been a Camp Comfort buddy for 12 years. This weekend he is here for Logan and it seems this weekend Logan is ready to fish and open up.

"It's not just to do the fun stuff. Pretty much it's to talk about the person who died in your group," said Logan. "Sometimes it helps you to get it out and sometimes it helps you to think a lot about it."

To help them never forget, campers get to make an angel decorated with stickers, fabric, and wings.

Just before it is time to pack up and go home, Camp Comfort comes to a close with a remembrance ceremony where the kids make a promise: They will never forget.

Even though the tears are flowing, it is another step in the healing process for the kids, their parents and their siblings.

"We hope that through this ceremony that you get a sense of the depth we've asked the children to go to this weekend," said

"Even two years after she died it's hard for me to say close that door and move on," said Pam's husband Don Peitzman. "It's not that easy and I suspect it's not that easy for anybody."

For Logan and Taryn it has not been easy to move on but they have found their own sense of comfort.

"I don't really like it when people feel sad for me or feel bad for me or feel sad for her because I know that she is in a better place," said Taryn.

Camp Comfort is a service of Mt. Evans Hospice. For more information on Camp Comfort contact Mt. Evans Hospice at 303-674-6400 or www.mtevans.org.

Pam Daale documented her fight with breast cancer in her journal "Mostly Sunny, Party Cloudy" The journal has now raised more than $19,000 for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation.

If you would like to purchase a copy, click here or call 303.744.2088 ext. 362.


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