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The Charlotte Jewish News - October 2014 - Page 9 Summers with Kids of Courage By Frannie Cohen I owe my last five amazing summers to an organization ealled Kids Of Courage. K.O.C. is a summer eamp offering over 200 kids and young adults, with vary ing disabilities from all over the world, ineluding Israel, unforget table adventuresome trips. I have been to L.A. twiee, San Franeiseo, Orlando, and San Diego. I also went on a ski trip to Vermont in the winter of January 2010 with K.O.C. K.O.C. already has our next adventure planned for sum mer 2014 in San Franeiseo. I was bom with an extremely rare Jewish genetie disease ealled Familial Dysautonomia (FD). FD affeets my autonomie nervous system whieh eontrols everything my body is supposed to handle au- tomatieally, like my blood pres sure, swallowing safely, and tear produetion, just to name a few. I faee many ehallenges daily. I was given a g-tube when I was four months old beeause I eannot safely swallow liquids. The g-tube allows me to stay hydrated and proteet my lungs. I ean’t walk far beeause my blood pressure gets very low and I eould faint just walking a very short distanee. I wear speeial eontaets that I had to go to Boston to be fitted for to proteet my dry eyes. I don’t pro- duee tears ... even when I ery. I had to have seoliosis surgery to eorreet a spinal eurvature when I was in 7th grade at New York Uni versity Flospital in Manhattan. All that being said I lead a fairly typi- eal life. I graduated from Provi- denee High Sehool last year and will be attending CPCC in the fall. I am interested in studying eom- puters. I love spending time with my family and friends. I love going to the movies, the mall, and out to dinner. I espeeially love going to the theater. Kids of Courage is tmly a spe eial eamp ran by very speeial doe- tors, nurses, and eounselors that donate their time eaeh summer (and winter for the ski trip) to take me and all my friends on trips like any typieal teenage would experi- enee. There is one (sometimes two) eounselors for eaeh eamper so you always feel safe and al ways loved. There are approxi mately 350 individuals living with FD in the whole world and for that week eaeh summer I ean be with my friends from New York, With Kids of Courage, children with dis abilities are able to participate fully in summer sports and activities. Frannie is on the right. Rhode Island, and Atlanta that share my same path in life. We all walk the same road and faee the same ehallenges and we are there for eaeh other. Although there are miles between us, I know I ean eount on these friends daily and we look forward to our time to gether on our K.O.C. trips. FD only makes up a small group of in dividuals on the trips. With over 200 eampers partieipating, there are ehildren and young adults with varying disabilities. For one week out of the whole year eaeh and every one of us are no longer looked at as disabled, different, strange, or weird. We are all looked at as eompletely abled. As a matter of faet we are ealled the eourageous. We’re heroes! If I ean’t walk far my eounselor pushes me in my wheelehair. If I don’t feel good, my friends are there to support me - they under stand me - they get me. For that one mag- ieal week eaeh sum mer, I don’t walk alone ... I walk with my peers who love and aeeept me for who I am. “It doesn’t matter how serious anybody’s eondition might be -everybody was able to partieipate equally,” said Yossi Farkas, managing di- reetor for K.O.C. “We redefine what it means to live with a serious disability or ehronie illness. There are no disabilities in Kids of Courage.” I eome home from eaeh trip with memo ries to last me the whole year until we all meet again. The majority of eampers fly out of Newark Airport on a ehartered plane. I flew on that plane for three years but the last eouple of years my eounselor has flown to Charlotte to meet me and then we fly together to our K.O.C. destina tion. I loved flying on the ehar tered plane with all of my friends but it is easier for me to fly di- reetly from Charlotte. I am grate ful to my eounselor, Pia Levine, who eomes and meets me in Char lotte and flies with me to our trips. She takes vaeation time from her job to join me on my K.O.C. ad ventures, making sure I am safe and keeping my par ents ealm at all times. Our trips have ineluded adven tures of a lifetime. We’ve had Lamborghini rides down Rodeo Drive in L.A., multiple trips to Disney World, Sea World, a visit to Aleatraz in SF, major league baseball games, jet skiing, introduetions to eelebrities, eoneerts, and just this past summer a fab ulous day at the San Diego Zoo. I’ve skied down the slopes in Vermont with the skilled help of the trained staff at the ski resort. Through K.O.C., I’ve been given the opportunity to have all of the same experi- enees a typieal young adult i: Courage K.O.C. is a non-profit organiza tion that fundraises all year to pro vide these trips to young Jewish ehildren and adults faeing ehal lenges at no eost to their families. This is a truly remarkable organi zation run by dedieated volunteers who give up their time eaeh year to bring happiness to those faeing ineredible ehallenges. To leam more about Kids of Courage you ean go to their website www.kid- soe.org. You ean also eheek out the video of their trip to San Diego this past August. ^ Frannie with Kids of Courage at SeaWorld PJ Library invites you., Sunday, October 26, 2014 10:00 am Darby Acres Farm 9396 Hutchinson Lane, Charlotte, NC $ 10 per person (children under 2 are free) Register online at www.nexgencharlotte.org Join us for a morning of fun on the farm Activities will include: ■ Tour of the farm ■ Feed the animals ■ Craft ■ Snack Making lifelong friends through Kids of Courage. Questions??? ContactTair Giudice tair.giudicG(3)jGwishcharlottG.org 704.944.6759 JEWISH^ FEDEMTION^ Your child’s future is closer than you think Experience how Country Day can help make your child ready to tackle complex challenges and succeed in a world none of us can even yet imagine. CHARLOTTE COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL Open House Dates: October 7, 7 pm (Junior Kindergarten/ Kindergarten) October 22, 7 pm (Junior Kindergarten-Grade 4) November 6,1:30 pm (Grades 9-12) Call or Come Visit: (704)943-4530 charlottecountryday.org my age gets to expenenee.
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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