Happy Days still helps children cope with cancerby Michael BakerPublic Relations For Chris Richardson, the epiphany came during his trip to Disney World. At the time, Richardson was crippled by cancerous tumors that destroyed his knee and part of his lung. He was also confined to a wheelchair for more than a year because of a broken ankle. Still, he recalls his trip to Florida as the happiest time of his life. “It’s hard to explain,” Richardson recalled, “because I was going through so much suffering at the time. But I looked at the other cancer patients around me—my friends—and just sat back for a moment, thinking, ‘Even in all of this pain, this is the happiest I’ve ever been.’” Finding happiness while living with cancer can be incredibly difficult, but with the help of the Happy Days and Special Times organization, Richardson found the strength to cope with his life-threatening illness. Five years later, the 22-year-old Emory University graduate has survived cancer and is looking towards the future—a future that will always include Happy Days. “As people who are living with or recovering from cancer, we’re all bonded by this life-changing experience,” said Richardson, who will volunteer with the organization this summer. “Happy Days is what brings us together.” Happy Days and Special Times was founded by Debby Stephenson in 1982 as a community project to help children with cancer. Since then, the organization has grown from a fledgling operation with a $5,000 budget into a prominent Charleston organization that spends more than $1 million annually, helping children and their families cope with cancer. “We want to provide these children with many tomorrows . . . today,” Stephenson said. The organization’s first program was a three-day camp that would later become Camp Happy Days. Each summer, about 240 children with cancer and their siblings join more than 200 volunteers for a week of activities and special guests. This summer, Camp Happy Days features a Hollywood stuntman and a magician among its varied attractions. Stephenson joked that she’s always trying to cram 100 days of activities into a week. “It’s crazy, but I love it. Camp is never the same from year to year,” she said. “Otherwise, I’d get bored.” Anyone who talks to Stephenson for more than a minute or two can tell that she has earned her nickname at Happy Days and Special Times: “Flash.” She’s brimming with enthusiasm. Stephenson believes in the power of a positive attitude, using her warm personality to boost the children’s spirits. The fiery redhead treats each child as her own, and it is with a mother’s pride that she speaks about her relationship with the children and their families. “I think what sets Happy Days apart is the personalization,” she said. “We consider ourselves an extension of the family.” Indeed, Stephenson believes that cancer is a disease that affects the entire family, not just the child. Accordingly, Happy Days and Special Times provides programs to ease families’ emotional and financial stress. The organization’s Parent-Get-Away offers a special weekend when parents can meet other parents of children with cancer. Similarly, the Renaissance Weekend is a bonding experience for parents who have lost children to cancer, allowing them the chance to share their experiences with each other and to speak with an MUSC hospital chaplain and a grief counselor. These weekends are just two of the many events designed to let families know that they are not alone in the battle against cancer. While Stephenson is proud of the emotional support that she and the other volunteers provide for the families, she also realizes that money is always an issue with cancer treatment. Happy Days and Special Times has designed the Family Crisis Fund to aid families with the cost of medical care. The fund provides transportation to and from the hospital, and money for food, medicines, gifts, medical bills, and other financial concerns that these families inevitably encounter. MUSC has also played a key role in Happy Days and Special Times, with many of the organization’s volunteers coming directly from the university. One such person, Catherine Dawson, has been going to Camp Happy Days as a camper or a counselor for the past 16 years. Currently a student at MUSC’s College of Medicine, Dawson first got involved when she learned that her younger brother, Alfred, had leukemia. Originally from Florence, Alfred received treatment in Charleston, where his family met Stephenson at her organization’s annual Christmas party. The following year, Dawson and her brother attended Camp Happy Days for the first time. “Happy Days really helped my brother deal with his leukemia,” Dawson said. “It was great for him to meet not only kids his own age who had cancer, but also to meet some counselors who had experienced what Alfred was going through.” Dawson added that seeing the “cool, older kids” who had survived leukemia and other types of cancer gave her brother the hope that he, too, could get better. Happy Days and Special Times was also an integral part of the coping process for the whole family. As a little girl, when Dawson went to camp with her brother, she felt more in touch with her family. Sharing Alfred’s experiences and learning more about his illness made her feel less isolated and more involved. Her parents were also grateful for the adult-oriented programs that Happy Days and Special Times offered. Dawson noted that she hadn’t heard of many cancer-related organizations that focused so much on the families of children with cancer. The support that the organization provided for the family is something that her parents really appreciated. Dawson now volunteers as a counselor at Camp Happy Days, and recently, she joined other College of Medicine students in organizing a charity golf tournament that raised nearly $4,000 for the camp. “I’ve made a lot of friends at Camp Happy Days, and I’ve lost some, too. When I heard that my classmates at MUSC were putting the golf tournament together, I had to get involved.” Dawson was glad that her time spent at the university allowed her the opportunity to work with an organization that is so important to her. “I love being a part of Happy Days. They can always use more volunteers, and I’ve gotten so much from them—not just at camp, but at their other programs as well.” Stephenson agreed. Although Camp Happy Days is the organization’s most prominent event during the year, she was quick to point out that Happy Days and Special Times offers more than just a week of sanctuary each summer. “It’s not just camp,” she stressed. “We have so much going on, and kids who can’t come to Camp Happy Days can always participate in our other activities.” In addition to Camp Happy Days, the organization schedules “dream dates” throughout the year for children who are having a rough time with their cancer treatments. Each dream date allows a child to have a shopping spree, a limousine ride, lunch at a favorite restaurant, and a special activity of the child’s choice. For teenagers, Happy Days and Special Times provides an annual trip to Disney World and Universal Studios Florida. “The Disney World trip is key,” Stephenson said. “It’s so important for these kids to get a chance to bond outside of the hospital experience, and to realize that ‘Yeah, there are other kids like me out there.’” The children deserve to live a happy, normal life, she said. Despite its best efforts, Happy Days and Special Times has had trouble with fundraising recently. While Stephenson was confident that it wouldn’t affect the positive attitudes of her volunteers, she said that limited finances have put the future of the organization in serious jeopardy. Although she can count on the assistance of loyal volunteers like Richardson and Dawson, Stephenson said that Happy Days and Special Times can always use more help. Brandon Hoffman, one of the first campers at Camp Happy Days and now a CPA in Charleston, is volunteering his services, assisting with the organzation’s accounting and financial reporting. “Any former camper will tell you, we can see the value in Happy Days,”
he said. “It’s pure energy, pure fun, and pure excitement.”
For additional information on donating time or money to Happy Days and
Special Times, contact Debby Stephenson or Darrell Gallant at (843) 571-4336.
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