nothin New Haven Independent | Kids’ Night Out Soars

Kids’ Night Out Soars

Heather Sutherland Photo

L-R: Melissa Pandolfi, Jordan Mann, Dr. Joe McNamara and State Sen.Ted Kennedy, Jr.

Everyone here who knows Dr. Joe knows he’s a saint,” began Branford Assistant Fire Chief and Fire Marshall Shaun Heffernan as he addressed his audience at Camp Rising Sun’s annual Kids’ Night Out.”

Heffernan, who is also the director of Camp Rising Sun, was not the person first to speak of the venerated doctor at the camp’s annual fundraiser, which took place on Wednesday, July 13 at the Owenego Inn. Parents, politicians, counselors, and campers alike all earnestly praised the doctor’s name as they extolled the virtues of the weeklong camp, a free program for kids between the ages of 5 and 17 who have had cancer at some point in their lives.

Heather Sutherland Photo

As Heffernan spoke, Dr. Joe McNamara (or Dr. Joe,” as his campers know him) was still nestled somewhere amidst a record crowd of 1,300 attendees that had gathered outside the Owenego that night. But he would soon be summoned into the spotlight to accept a citation from the Connecticut General Assembly in recognition of what is about to be his 25th year of service as Camp Rising Sun’s medical director and resident pediatric oncologist.

Camp Rising Sun would not exist without you,” said State Sen.Ted Kennedy Jr., as he and State Rep. Sean Scanlon presented McNamara with his award.

That night, Kennedy also presented a citation to the event’s organizers, Melissa Pandolfi and Jordan Mann, both former campers who once suffered from the same kind of bone cancer that Kennedy had had as a child. Kennedy’s leg was surgically amputated when he was 12. Besides serving as state senator for the 12th District, Kennedy is a well-known disabilities lawyer.

Heather Sutherland Photo

Vivid, a band from Boston, plays for free at the event every year.

Earlier this year, Pandolfi signed on to fill the camp’s new position of year-round outreach coordinator. The new job will send her to pediatric cancer floors to visit old campers and recruit new ones, as well as to fundraising events where she will represent the camp.

Heffernan also announced that the camp would be hosting a separate camp for siblings of Rising Sun campers. The camp, which will be called Circle The Sun” Siblings Camp, will be hosted next door to Camp Rising Sun at Camp Hideaway, on the Grounds of YMCA’s Camp Jewel, which is located in Colbrook, Connecticut.

A Familial Bond

The bonds that these kids have with each other are absolutely unbelievable,” said Dr. Joe, his calm voice somehow prevailing over the sounds of live rock music coming from the speakers behind him.

Whenever one of these kids gets sick or goes into relapse, all they have to do is make a phone call to somebody and everyone will call and help them.”

The fierce culture of loyalty, love, and support was something that many of the camp’s constituents noted as one of its most important features.

Emily Patton Photo

L-R: Camisha Tyler and Danielle Joyce

It’s a whole family,” said Camisha Taylor, who has been a camp nurse for 9 years.

It’s a home away from home,” said Kiara Lopez, a camper returning for her third year in a row.

As camp doctor, Dr. Joe has had plenty of opportunities to see the camp family in action. But his appreciation for its fortitude became even more personal 6 years ago, when his daughter, Laura was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

She went to Yale and she called up one of her friends at camp, and within twenty minutes there had to be 4 or 5 kids from camp there,” he remembered, his voice softening over the phone.

Laura, who is now 27, has since recovered from the cancer and is returning to camp again this year as a counselor, as will her brother Jimmy. Their sister Joanna, age 30, will also be returning as a camp nurse. All three kids, as well as their mother, Noreen, have been coming to camp for as long as their father has.

Summarized Dr. McNamara: Camp has been very good to us, and we’ve been very good to the camp.”

Past, Present, and Future

Heather Sutherland Photo

Camp Rising Sun has grown tremendously since it was founded in 1983 by the American Cancer Society (ACS). So has the field of pediatric oncology. Both of these developments have boded well for Camp Rising Sun. Here are a group of campers.

Nowadays in pediatric oncology, we’re able to cure the vast majority of children with cancer,” said Dr. McNamara. So even though I know that they’re very sick right now, I can tell their family that there’s a very, very good chance that they’re gonna be cured and they’re gonna be able to come to camp one day.”

According to McNamara the overall cure rate for kids with cancer was between 45 – 50% when he began his career in the late 80s. Now, he says, rate is between 78 – 80%. For chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common type of cancer for kids, that rate is over 90%.

This summer, Camp Rising Sun is expected to host over 130 campers from Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts this summer — more campers than ever before. The camp runs from August 21 – 26.

In order to accommodate this increase, the camp has also increased the size of its staff. When I started,” recalled Dr. Joe, it was really just myself and two nurses. Now we have four or five nurses and a separate infirmary for the children.”

This year, Dr. Joe will be joined by another pediatric oncologist, Dr. Mike Kent. This is a relief to McNamara, who has always worried about what would happen if he were to get sick or break a leg” before camp starts.

As of now, Dr. Joe has no plans of retiring soon. But to have a camper return as doctor would be his ultimate dream.

The kids always ask me what can I do to pay you back?’” he said. I say come back as a camp counselor.’ Now I have to find someone to come back as a camp doctor.”

He may be in luck.

Emily Patton Photo

Erika Belitsky and her Mom, Ellen Belitsky

Erika Belitzky is sixteen-years old. This year, she will be returning to camp for her fourteenth year in a row. Already, she has begun making plans with her friends to come back as a camp counselor. But she has even bigger plans for the future.

I want to be an oncologist and I want to take over for Doctor Joe,” she said confidently.

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