Heading to camp
Posted: Friday, July 17, 2009 4:49 PM by Sam Singal
By Kevin Tibbles, NBC News correspondent
For kids, the summer months are filled with the sounds of swimming, summer camp and songs. To be deprived of the opportunity to run and jump, or splash and laugh is downright un-kid-like. Still, for children born with severe heart defects, those sorts of activities have traditionally been out of the question; too risky even to spend the night at grandma's house, or throw some pillows at a pajama party. That's when the medical staff at the St. Louis Children's Hospital had an idea; and that is how 'Camp Rhythm' was born. A week-long sleepover camp that comes with cardiologists as well as campfires. At Camp Rhythm those long 'zipper-like' scars down the front of each kids chest simply means that, probably for the first time in their lives, they look just like everybody else. It's a place filled with those familiar sounds of summer, where worried moms and dads can rest easy because their children are in good hands; even if those hands are covered in the post campfire chocolate residue of one too many s'mores. Camp Rhythm is tonight's Making a Difference. Kevin Tibbles NBC News.
