Grief Camp Helping Local Kids Heal

Camp specializes in helping kids who've lost sibling

Cook Children's Health Care is partnering with a local summer camp that teaches kids how to grieve after losing a loved one.

Cook Children's Health Care supports the camp by paying for children who have lost a sibling while being treated at one of their hospitals.It also sends two nurses and two child life specialists to help the children grieve.

Twelve-year-old Alex Baird's brother, Collin, died three years ago of a heart virus called myocarditis when he was 11.

She and two of her sisters are attending a weeklong summer camp, El Tesoro de la Vida, which means the treasure of life, put on by Camp Fire in Granbury.

"You just talk it out with people, and they talk about their own stories and just comparing and then you have things in common and you make friends," Baird said.

The camp has 150 kids are attending this year.

Randi Baird said she enjoys the camp because it's a place where people like her can feel comfortable expressing their grief without being exiled for it.

"At school, you can't be like, 'Oh, I feel so terrible; my sibling's dead,' because people start looking at you like you're wanting pity, but when I come here and my siblings come here, I feel like we have that environment to like we can set our emotions out there and we won't be judged for what we are feeling," she said.

Sharla Baird said the camp is also meaningful because she and her two sisters do not get to have quality time together because they help take care of their five other siblings.

"I love hanging out with my sisters, but also, when we're at home, we don't get to hang out because we are always watching our baby siblings," she said.

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