Our Founder
The below message is straight from the heart. Reflections from our Founder, Elizabeth Turner Campbell:
If you will bear with me I would like to tell you what The Center for Courageous Kids means to me.
We never expect our children to get so sick with these crippling diseases that affect not only their little bodies but their families’ hearts as well. A child's illness tears the family apart, causes turmoil, and we live only for the doctors to say our child will get better. But no doctor’s report is ever permanent and we dread every cough, cold, and stomach ache until we hear the results of the next exam.
Then, we try to make their lives as normal as possible and not slight their siblings. But, we face it, our family will never be the same. I have felt this kind of aloneness, I have experienced this pain, and I want you to know, you are not alone.
Like an answer to prayer, there is a happy place where your sick ones can have a normal week with children who have the same illness. A place to discover all they can be.
The Center for Courageous Kids is such a place. It is a brief piece of normal – happy, singing, swimming, bowling, riding horses, fishing, and climbing the Courage Wall. The children will be able to show their families, and themselves, their inner strength and resolve and courage. The children and their families will know that someone who has been through just what they are going through cared enough to make this week of normal possible. A week or weekend where children will make new friends and know that they are not alone.
God gives these children the strength and faith to face these insurmountable odds. God gave you the heart to help them face these odds knowing they are loved and we are here for them. We are here to talk and play with them and to let them know we will catch them when they fall. Now, who is blessed the most?
We all have our stories and our mountains we must climb. We will make it together. Our reward is watching the happy faces come and go. We realize God will help us build our courage up for the next group, no matter how tired we feel. He gives us the courage to go on. These children are all our children.
Won't you help make this miracle possible for these children? What better way to show children with serious illness that they will never be alone? They give us an attitude of bravery. Let's give it back.
