Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/591861
This is a love story. One with ups and downs and twists and turns that go from joy to tragedy and then back again. A man and woman meet, fall in love, marry, have kids. en she's diag- nosed with terminal cancer. She dies a year later at the age of 32, leaving behind her husband and two young children. And yet, there's a happy ending. It's Camp Kerry. Kerry Glade Kirstiuk is the inspiration for what's now the Camp Kerry Society, an organization that's grown beyond all expectations since its inception after her death in 2007. It began with Kerry's brokenhearted family, alongside nine other simi- larly grieving families, over one healing weekend on Keats Island in Howe Sound. Today, nearly a decade later, that initial, thera- peutic retreat has evolved into year-round bereavement programs, a camp in Ontario and even a private social network called Circles of Strength Online. While she was ill, Kerry and her husband, Bob Kirstiuk, met Dr. Heather Mohan through the Lion's Gate Hospital's family bereavement program. Mohan would come to the Kirstiuks' house every few weeks and spend time with the kids, Hudson and Avery, who, at just one and three years old, didn't fully understand what was happening to their mom. As a registered clinical counsellor and accredited music therapist with a master's degree in music therapy and a PhD in arts education, Mohan connected with them through music and art. At the celebration of Kerry's life, Bob asked people to make donations to the bereavement program that had helped his family, stipulating that any funds be used under Mohan's guidance. After just two weeks, the outpouring of support was so great that the donations were enough to finance Mohan's dream of a bereavement camp – a place where people could grieve together. She named it after Kerry. "e people who knew Kerry and those who hear her story understand that the Camp honours her legacy of courage, com- passion and generosity – her capacity to find hope and focus on the joys of life and love and family even as she faced the devastat- ing progression of her terminal illness," says Mohan. e camp has since evolved beyond one muse, and yet an aura remains around its namesake. Bob is now remarried, and his fam- ily still attends the annual camp. His daughter shares her story with kids who are in awe that Kerry is her mom. "e connections that those kids have in those conversations are pretty powerful," says Bob, and Avery and her brother return each year with a message of hope. "My kids thought, growing up, that they were the only kids that didn't have a mom," says Bob. Now the Kirstiuks are a "peer mentor family," having come a long way from Keats Island. Bob describes that first camp as magical. He remembers qui- etly sitting on a boat en route to Keats, families with young kids huddled together in the rain. But once ashore, people started connecting. ere was art and music, the sun came out and, after a beautiful weekend, everyone was sad to leave. "You think you're the only person on the planet that's going through this type of tragedy," says Bob. Camp Kerry shows that you're not. Photos: Courtesy Camp Kerry Society F a l l 2 0 1 5 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l p a g e 7 Healing moments at Camp Kerry are inspired by the 2007 passing of Kerry Kirstiuk (opposite page, with husband Bob and kids Hudson and Avery).