Christchurch

The camp allowing children with cancer to ‘just be kids again’

16 January 2025

News

Eight-year-old Archer hasn’t grown up like other kids his age.

Most of his life has been spent within the confines of a hospital room, with the company of nurses and doctors who were trying to save his life.

At just 2 years old Archer was diagnosed with leukaemia. For the following 27 months he went through chemotherapy, had seven broken bones - including a femur - and now has permanent heart damage.

Camp Quality runs camps for children from the age of 5 up to 16 who are going through or recovering from cancer.

According to the University of Otago, three children in New Zealand are diagnosed with cancer every week. At any one time around 320 are receiving some form of treatment.

Every year the charity runs week-long camps in the summer and over long weekends in winter from Queenstown to Auckland, with around 300 children attending every year.

“At school they are the cancer kid, the child with that weird disease, the child with the bald head. At camp they’re surrounded by young people who are exactly the same as them,” said Camp Quality general manager Dave Bellamy.

Now in its 40th year, Camp Quality - a refuge for children with cancer - is holding its summer camp just beyond Governors Bay. The Press went to visit Archer and his older sister Isla at the place that allowed him to be a kid again.

Despite costing an estimated $3000 to $4000 per child for camp each year, Camp Quality is entirely funded by donations and relies on an “army” of volunteers.

“You look around camp and you see kids having the most amazing week of their entire lives and you realise that young person has just spent the last three years battling lymphoma,” said Bellamy.

“For many kids we work with, this is the highlight of their year. We give them a chance to just be kids again.”

For Archer, what was supposed to be a day visit to camp last year quickly turned into a week-long excursion, said mum Brooke Moore - and he came back with the biggest smile on his face.

“There’d be days or weeks where he didn’t smile at all or he’d try to smile but it didn’t reach his eyes,” she said.

“Camp has just bought so much joy for him. When he came home he just looked like he’d grown two inches. He had this really quiet sense of confidence, he just stood that bit taller.”

Cancer has taken its toll on the family.

Moore’s other two children, including Isla, developed anxiety during Archer's treatment. If his temperature fluctuated too much, Moore would have to race him to the hospital, and sometimes wouldn’t return home for up to six weeks.

“The siblings wear a lot through treatment. They were aware enough to see that there were big things going on, you could see them trying to suppress it,” she said.

It’s been a special opportunity for Isla to attend camp alongside Archer this year, and see her brother come out of his shell.

And even though watching him be sick for so long was “hard,” she has now got to see how he has grown after beating cancer.

“It’s been fun to do activities together and just hang out,” said Isla.

“He’s definitely the strongest person in our family.”

Moore is “excited” to see the smile on Archer’s face when he comes home on Friday, something that before camp she wasn’t used to seeing.

“It’s hard to let them go after they’ve fought for their lives. Twice he had groups of doctors saving his life.

“When we got invited to camp, I thought he was doing good already. It was a boost in mental health that I didn’t know he needed.”

 

Stuff article

Stuff article Maddy Croad

Photos Iain McGregor