Links to videos from other camps

http://capitalnews9.com/Video/video_pop.aspx?vids=74588&sid=1&rid=12

http://storybridge.tv/chronicles/011

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation (from a LTTW Parent)

8/13/2008

Thank you all for a truly wonderful week. The camp was well run, the volunteers
warm and supportive (and in great cardiovascular shape too!), and the LTW staff
and program were exceptional.

It was all I could do to keep from breaking into tears on Friday afternoon at
the closing of the camp session, but since I had already wept on Thursday after
seeing Ben ride alone around the gym, I promised the boys I would not embarrass
them again. But, I start to weep again as I write this note, and each time I see
Ben riding more and more confidently on his bicycle.

It was only two years ago that Ben was walking up and down stairs one at a time,
unable to alternate his legs, and often experiencing vertigo on stairways and
balconies, any open and elevated space really. When I think back on the
difficulties he faced as a young boy with balance, coordinating right and left
movements, negotiating spatial relationships, not to mention emotionally dealing
with new situations, it was hard to believe he participated last week, much less
mastered the two-wheeler! When I first took him for a ride on an adaptive
bicycle through a local program he was furious with me, crying, protesting,
refusing to do it, telling me he was going to be killed. But he finally got on
the trike, and when he experienced the movement he loved it (and later forgave
me for risking his life and limb). When I told him about the LTTW camp he
responded similarly, and well you all know the end result.

On Saturday Ben was reluctant to ride, but I insisted (while Sam wouldn’t stop
pestering me to take him out) and he finally relented, although he wasn’t too
happy about it. We rode again Sunday, again against his wishes. And then
Monday Ben asked me to take him on a ride and out we went. As he took off, I
could see something shift in him. He took off without assistance, picked up
speed, rounded the turns with more skill, sat up straighter, and handled the
bike with confidence. As he rode past me, he shouted “Mom, I think I got it.”

And he does. So thank you once more.

All my best,
Liz H