NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Summer camps for young people are fun, it’s just that simple. However, for certain groups, they take on a completely different perspective that helps them in so many valuable ways.
Oliver Mooney isn’t afraid to talk about his burns.
“It got me here and here on my shoulder,” Mooney said, explaining where he got burned.
Butane fuel burned Mooney while at a campfire.
“We had the wrong thing for it, I think. It exploded and then I caught on fire. So did my cousins,” Mooney said.
Now, he’s enjoying a obstacle course of water and fun at Vanderbilt’s burn camp in Columbia.
Here no one stares or looks at you funny. “It’s nice everyone here knows what it’s like to be burned,” Mooney said.
Nine-year-old Cali Puckett knows too, but it doesn’t stop her search for fun.
A go-cart accident put her in the hospital. “I touched a black cord and it ran over my leg. It was so bad it turned into a burn,” Puckett said.
Fire departments from Chattanooga and Brentwood came over to help with the splash. The kids did everything else.
“I like creek stomping and then I like the zip lining,” Mooney said.
Like was the word of the day.
“I think that’s an understatement. I hear time and time again how much they talk about it and they’re so ready for next year,” camp director Brittni Davis said. “They make it more special for us.”
