Easter Seals Disability Services

You Just Never Know What is Going to Happen in Life

Two months before 21-year-old Dani was supposed to graduate from the University of Illinois, a cardiac arrest placed a death grip on her life and changed it forever. The cardiac arrest was strong, but her will to live was stronger. "I woke up in the hospital and just prayed to live another day."

After six months in the hospital, Dani returned home. Physical, speech and occupational therapy restored everything, but Dani’s memory. Dani says, "Every day is a new day for me."

Because of her short-term memory loss, the world that Dani knew of college life, friends and travel was now over, but her adventurous heart still yearned for more. Her new life was, as she puts it, “boring” until she found Easter Seals Camp Fairlee Manor. “I love Easter Seals and Camp Fairlee,” Dani says. “I don’t want to leave at the end of the week.”

Dani participates in Easter Seals’ week-long camp stays, weekend respites, the travel trip programs as well as the Daily Adventure program, which takes campers ages 12 and older on a different journey every day.Says Steve Nkurlu, Director of Recreation and Respite Services at Camp Fairlee, “When planning the travel trips, our support staff takes care of all the details such as food, transportation and lodging, while the campers get to enjoy opportunities they might not have outside of camp. We are happy to provide Dani with this experience.”

With Fairlee Manor’s program, Dani has traveled to many destinations including New York City, and the Bahamas. “Dani goes on trips that we cannot afford as a family,” Dani’s Uncle Lee says. “What could be better! Even if she does not remember details of her travel, she knows that she has had a great time and that is all that matters to us.”

Camp Fairlee is not the first exposure Dani’s family has had to Easter Seals. Twenty years ago, when Dani was seven, her Aunt Lollie played in the Easter Seals Volleyball Challenge to raise funds for services such as Camp Fairlee. Not only did her team raise the most funds, Lollie was the top individual fundraiser of that year. "I never imagined then that we would be taking advantage of the same services we  supported 20 years ago," Lollie says. “You just never know what is going to happen in life.”

Easter Seal’s Camp Fairlee Manor is the only camp in our region that provides a typical residential camp experience for children and adults with disabilities on a year-round basis. For more information about Camp programs, call (410) 778-0566 or point your browser to Camp Fairlee Manor.

Visit Camp Fairlee on FACEBOOK.