A Conversation with Karen Gerstenberger

I've been meaning to share this video for a long time. I made this so that the staff at Camp Goodtimes could have the opportunity to listen to a parent's perspective on sending their kids to camp. I have shared the video with our camp staff that last couple of summers and people have been very moved by Karen's sincerity and honesty. It was very emotional for her to open up like this and I so appreciate her willingness to share her story. It's about 20 minutes long so grab a cup of coffee and maybe a Kleenex or two and I think you will enjoy this.

We will continue to celebrate her daughter Katie's life every summer at camp.

http://www.vimeo.com/11279058


Katie, June 2007

An amazing person

I've been really bad about posting on my blog as of late but life does indeed get very busy at times. However, lately in my random waking moments when I'm not consumed with the day to day I keep coming back to thoughts of my dear friend Puck from Camp Goodtimes (her real name is Cory, but I've known her for years and have never actually called her by her real name). Puck is one of the Camp Goodtimes docs who every year during her vacation time elects to volunteer at camp, hanging out with many of the same kids that she takes care of at Children's Hospital 40 hours a week at her regular job. That bears repeating...during her down time she goes to camp to take care of and play with many of the same kids that she treats at Children's Hospital.



There should be awards for people whose hearts are as big as a horse, for people who are just so filled up with awesomeness that it spills over to positively effect the lives of so many people.

I most recently saw Puck at the memorial service a few weeks ago for one of our campers, 12 year old Brandon, who had bravely fought brain tumors for almost 8 years. Puck was one of his docs and was very close to him. I picked out Puck from the overflow crowd at the church and I went to sit down next to her. I told her that I saw photos of her with Brandon that were lovingly placed near the guest book. We started talking and the topic came around to our volunteer work. She said that a number of people ask how we can do what we do when inevitably from time to time there is this tragic result of pediatric cancer. I responded that I felt that the human heart has an incredible capacity to love and that I just couldn't imagine NOT getting to know some of these wonderful children whose lives were cut short by cancer. I've learned so much from them and have enjoyed their company so much. I've felt privileged to be welcomed in to their families and have so enjoyed sharing their story in words and pictures with the world.

Puck and I kept talking along these lines for a while and then she really summed things up so beautifully when she said, "We're not doing these children any favors by not falling in love with them." And this comes from a woman who has spends all of her working life taking care of children battling cancer. She is so right. What bad could happen from opening your heart up for someone going through something terrible? Nothing that comes remotely close to what the person's family is going through or the patient is going through. But if you can add some joy and hope to someone's life?...then jump in, go for it, and soon you will realize that there's no other road that you would've wanted to take.

In 2007, one of our Camp Goodtimes staff members, Tara Clarke, known affectionately to hundreds of people as Twiga (Swahili for giraffe-Tara grew up in Africa), was very sick but none the less came to camp every day. On cruise day I made her sit down next to me as the boat approached pier 56. I said to her, "Can you fly?" She looked at me completely stunned...I continued, "How would you like it if in about 20 minutes from now you were flying over the boat in a parasail?" Her mouth fell open. She replied, "Uh, I don't know, but I'd like to try it!" Puck was sitting next to her. I directed a question at her, "Puck, will she physically be OK to go up?" She said, half flabbergasted, "I don't see why not." I said, "Good...because you're going up with her!" Puck immediately said, "NO WAY!" But Twiga countered with, "If I'm going, you're going!" How could Puck argue with that? Twiga knew that her cancer was incurable but she knew that every day was a new day, and it ain't over till its over.

Just 20 minutes later, on a beautiful summer day, with signal flags blowing in the breeze on the top of the Spirit of Seattle, a parachute appeared in the distance. As it got closer and closer, suddenly all 200 people on the boat realized that it was Puck and Twiga flying over Elliot Bay. With music blaring, people cheering, and our parasailors grinning from ear to ear and waving enthusiastically from the sky, a parachute flew right over the back of the boat. As it disappeared in the distance, I stood there in the wheelhouse, transfixed by one of the most beautiful moments that I had ever seen.

Less than 3 months later, Twiga passed away. But on that summer day, at that moment, on a tandem parasail and holding the hand of her doctor the entire time, Tara learned to fly.

Without the love and support of my dear friend Puck, that magic moment would never have happened. At Children's Hospital, minus the parachute, she is there for her patients every single day. She is a blessing to anyone and everyone that is lucky enough to know her. She has dedicated her life to children facing the toughest times imaginable. I am in awe of her.

Thanks Puck, and I'll look forward to seeing you at camp again this summer!

The Camp Goodtimes Wine Auction

Coming up this March 27th at the Harbor Club in Bellevue is the annual Camp Goodtimes Wine Auction. The gala event historically has been able to raise enough money to entirely fund one full week of summer camp for pediatric cancer patients and their siblings from around western Washington as well as Alaska. With this additional support, there are now two separate camp sessions each summer, enabling approximately 240 kids to attend and have the time of their lives.

The American Cancer Society's Camp Goodtimes is now in its 27th year and the impact that it has had on kids, volunteers and everyone that has come into contact with it has been enormous. Thankfully the survival rate for pediatric cancers has risen dramatically over the years but the devastation that cancer causes in the life of a child has stayed the same. Cancer is a huge dark cloud over childhood and for some survivors that cloud can stay with them for the rest of their lives. Camp provides a place that is filled with unconditional love and acceptance and bonds are created there that just get stronger over time.

As a volunteer for each of these past 27 years Camp Goodtimes has given me so much. It has given me the chance to meet and get to know kids who I will never forget and the pleasure of witnessing first hand classic moments that I know couldn't happen anywhere else. But mostly, camp has allowed me to grow older without growing up.

And that is my wish for everyone one of our campers.




I produced a video to help people get to know what Camp Goodtimes is all about. I'll be showing this at the Wine Auction to allow guests an inside look at what camp is all about. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/user/CaptMooselips?feature=mhw4#p/a/u/0/P_MztE27m3E

If you would like to attend the Wine Auction or make a donation please visit;

http://www.campgoodtimesauction.org

Christa & Michael

I enjoyed a nice afternoon in the studio recently with Christa and Michael to take some engagement portraits. I'm really looking forward to photographing their wedding this August. About 5 few years ago I had taken Christa's senior portraits including this very cool one in a very cool Crystal Lake.



Connecting the dots with people through time is one of my favorite things. To watch as they grow and change and enter new stages of their lives, AND to be there with a camera to document it is one of the core reasons that I do what I do. The bottom line is that I'm sentimental. Life zooms by so you have to jump out and tackle it from time to time; wrestle it, capture it, remember it, and then let it go so it can continue on to do its inevitable thing.

Christa and Michael's summer wedding will be here before you know it. They're enjoying their pre-wedding time at the moment by vacationing in Europe. I offered to go with them for some "location engagement portraits" but they didn't take me up on it unfortunately.

Congratulations in advance to a wonderful (and very photogenic) couple!

XENA WALKS!!

Today was a huge day in Xena's comeback. Miles and I met her and her parents in Seattle to witness and record her first steps with her brand new leg. 24 years after learning the first time, she had the chance to do it again, but luckily, this time she wasn't wearing diapers.

Xena did fantastic today. She was emotional, loud (as usual), and completely psyched to be walking, albeit slowly and cautiously. Her parents, Connie and Denny, were looking on with pride. Xena's brand new tennis shoes looked great and while I was pressing down on the end of the shoe on her prosthetic leg I said, "Just tell me where your toe is."

Geez Megan laughs loud.

More later but I just had to share some photos today.

Xena and Selves

Just over two months ago, Xena (aka, Megan) was airlifted to Harborview Hospital clinging to life after being extracted from some concrete pilings that had shifted at a shipyard, crushing her legs. The other night she was clinging to the man who used a crane to lift those pilings off of her, her fiancé, Selves. Well I guess if Xena is the Warrior Princess, and since she and Selves are now engaged, hmmm...should I call him "Prince". Or "The Crane Operator Formerly Known As"? Well, I guess I can figure that out later. For now I'd just like to share some of the portraits that I took of them in my studio the other night.





Megan didn't just dodge a bullet in that accident a few months ago, she dodged machine gun fire from multiple assailants and she miraculously will soon be literally "walking away". In fact, this Friday she hopes to be taking her very first steps with her new prosthetic leg. Her comeback tour now is already well underway. The evidence I think is in these portraits. Megan's spark is so apparent, as is her love for Selves. Selves, to say the least, not only scooped Megan up out of the jaws of death, he has been looking after her ever since. He spent every single night with her at Harborview and judging by the size of the engagement ring on her finger, he intends to be in this relationship for the long haul.



That night in the studio was the first time I had the chance to hang out with Selves. I came away very impressed by him, especially his love for Megan. I was also impressed by his arms! I told him that he's a natural as a crane operator because if the crane ever breaks it's pretty obvious that he could just lift whatever he needed to by hand.







I was constantly struck that night with the realization that I was photographing a woman who recently was so close to death but instead was brought back by the skill of so many people (including some nifty helicopter handling). She was given a new lease on life and here she was enjoying it with Selves and being as loud, goofy and beautiful as ever. I love the last photograph below. In it she seems to be saying, "Yeah, whatever, I lost a leg, I'm over it, what's next?" Well, the next thing is learning to walk...again.

23 years after taking her first steps, this Friday she will try once more.

Happy Birthday Caity!!

Caity is joining the ranks of the world's teenagers today. Turning 13 opens a brand new door for her on her unique path to growing up. She's had to take a much different road than most as she continues her cancer struggle. I hope dearly that her latest rounds of chemotherapy will rid her body of the cancer that she has been facing since age 7. At that time she was officially diagnosed with Metastic Solid Pseudopapillary Pancreatic Cancer. She underwent abdominal surgery to remove the cancerous tumor and then had scans every 4 months to make sure it hadn't come back. This went on for 3 years; 3 years of wondering and anticipating that next scan and then breathing a sigh of relief when they showed nothing.

Caity's life was to change dramatically when on one of those dreaded scans they found that the cancer had come back with a vengeance. It was everywhere in her abdomen, from her stomach lining to her spleen and liver. After a nine hour surgery to remove all the cancer that they could find they just had to wait, knowing that it would eventually come back again. It did, a year later. This time, they had to take most of her pancreas, causing her to become diabetic. Caity also lost her spleen causing her to become more prone to infections. Throughout this arduous battle the doctors are still confused by this cancer. In fact they haven't seen any other like it.

Last spring Caity relapsed again. Her doctors felt that the surgeries themselves were causing the cancer to become more active so a different route was chosen. Since her cancer started in her pancreas she is now being treated with a chemo drug used to fight pancreatic cancer. This means more and more weekly trips to Children's Hospital in Seattle for treatment. Recently after yet another scan, they finally got some good news that the cancer had not grown at all. So for now, she and her family are staying the course and continuing on her present protocol.

I had a wonderful visit with Caity and her mom Misti at Children's last week where they had come in for this new round of chemo. I actually first met Caity two years ago at Camp Goodtimes in June. Later that summer she also attended a Campfire camp, Camp Sealth and I was the captain of the boat that day that took her to camp. Even though photography has been my full time job for over twenty years now, I still drive the Argosy boats a couple of dozen times every summer, mainly driving the Goodtime II and taking kids to Sealth. I've been doing that for 30 years now, and I hope to do it for about 30 more.





Last summer when Camp Goodtimes was ending, Caity walked up to me and said, "Mooselips..." (if you didn't already know, that's been my goofy camp name forever) "...would you come visit me at Chldren's Hospital sometime this winter?...Cause my cancer came back?" How can you possibly answer that question? "No, I'd rather sit around and play video games." or, "Gosh no, but thanks for asking. I happen to be quite self-centered so it would never occur to me to go visit a friend in need." I usually try to come up with something funny to say, but with that question the only thing that came out was, "I'd love to." And I responded that way not out of any guilt whatsoever. I was just so honored that she wanted me to visit and I was looking forward to the time when I could do just that and hopefully cheer her up a little.

I tried to keep up on her progress after camp but didn't hear of any Children's visits until after they had happened. I did have a very nice visit with her and her family on the Camp Goodtimes Holiday cruise last December (Argosy Cruises has donated the boat for 20 years in a row now). Recently, through the wonders of Facebook, I knew Caity was going to be admitted to Children's to, as her mom's status indicated, "Face the Monster". I was in Seattle with my son Miles and we tried to call them at Children's first but didn't have any luck so we just showed up. While checking in on the oncology floor, Misti actually walked up to me and said with surprise, "Hey Mooselips. I'm Misti, Caity's mom from camp." I said, "I know, we're here to see you both!" She gave me a confused smile and asked how I knew they were going to be there, to which I replied, "Facebook." She chuckled and added, " I LOVE Facebook". She then immediately took us back to where Caity was sharing a room with two other patients, the room being divided into three separate areas with curtains. Misti said to Caity, "Honey, you have visitors!" Caity said in a very confused, bordering on upset tone, "Who?!?!" I then started singing "Little Red Wagon" as I walked around the curtain with Miles. Seeing her face light up and to hear her say, "Mooselips!!" just made my day. She had seen Miles before a number of times at camp. A few minutes into our visit she looked over at Miles and said, "You look like Joe Jonas." Referring to one of the Jonas Brothers teeny bopper band (sorry Caity, that's the best description I can come up with for them!).



Misti had asked me before if I could take some photos of Caity sometime and even though the hospital wasn't the greatest setting, it does represent their reality at the moment. I kept thinking to myself how amazing she looked AND how great her attitude was. Considering what she has been facing and what lays before her, she still can break into that enormous smile so quickly. I know that besides all the physical abuse that cancer has unleashed upon her, that coping emotionally is another thing entirely. I am confident that with her spunkiness and her ability to start cracking up in an instant, even after a dumb Mooselips joke, that she has the ability to keep facing this with strength very uncommon for a 13 year old. I think it definitely helps to have something fun to look forward to, like Camp Goodtimes, or more immediately, an awesome birthday party. So today, Caity is having a huge "Happy 13th" party thrown for her that will feature all kinds of craziness, including belly dancing! When she told me that, I told her that WHENEVER I dance, it turns in to belly dancing by accident (the new workout schedule should make that happen less frequently though I hope).

Caity you are a remarkable young lady with a huge heart. You truly have a lot to teach the world and on this your big day, turning 13, I wish for you crazy-belly dancing-hanging out with friends-laughing so hard till milk squirts out your nose-present opening-junk food eating (but be careful about that!)- birthday wonderfullness. My sincer wish for you is to have at least 90 more just like it.

Happy Birthday!