Two decades ago, Brian Long was a pint-sized elementary school student who didn’t know any other kids like him. But then came summer, and that all changed: At the Prescott, Ariz., ADA Diabetes Camp AZDA, Long met dozens of young people who had type 1, too. Eight years of attending camp led to a volunteer position as a counselor that’s lasted for 12 years and counting. Today, at age 28, he’s prepping to wed his fiancée—a former co-counselor at AZDA—in a ceremony that includes five other people with diabetes, all of whom are also former campers.

While not all kids meet their life partner at diabetes camp, many bring home experiences of a lifetime. To the uninitiated, diabetes camp conjures up visions of group finger pricks, presentations on the food pyramid, and lessons on glucose management. Of course, education and safety are a major part of camp. “It kind of gets you back to checking [your blood glucose] before every meal. Going back to camp shows you the way it’s supposed to be,” says 17-year-old Derek Krautkremer of St. Paul, Minn., who has attended ADA’s Camp Needlepoint in Hudson, Wis., for the past five years. But ask any camper what the week’s activities focus on, and you’ll learn that, like other summer programs, diabetes camp is about fun. “It was a way to see [that] it’s easy to manage this while you’re having fun and being just a regular kid,” says Long, who today manages the American Diabetes Association’s Step Out and Team Diabetes events in and around Phoenix. Recreation varies from one camp to the next, but it usually includes swimming, arts and crafts, capture the flag, team sports, archery, boating, and adventure activities like rock climbing and zip lines.

Find a Camp
Many camps accept applications up to a month before the first session starts (typically in June, July, or August), though others have earlier deadlines. The sooner you register, the better, since most camps are first come, first served. Each camp caters to a different age range—some serve children between the ages of 4 and 9 while others stick to teens between 14 and 18—so check before you register. ADA offers both day and overnight camps. Not sure where to start? Log on to diabetes.org/camps for information on and registration for more than 60 ADA and related diabetes camps in 33 states. There, you can learn more about a specific camp as well as its dates, fees, registration deadlines, and how to apply.

With all summer camps, part of the fun is in spending time away from home—sometimes overnight—with a bunch of other kids the same age. And when it comes to diabetes camps, that camaraderie is even more pronounced. “There’s an unspoken bond, even if you don’t get to talk to everyone. We’ve all been there, and we know what it is like,” says Moira McAuliffe. Now 17, McAuliffe has been going to ADA’s Triangle D Camp in Ingleside, Ill., for eight years. “You don’t feel so alone,” she says. “You feel more accepted because people understand you. Everyone’s diabetic.”

Debra Schindler, whose 5-year-old daughter, Alexis, attends the ADA camp New Horizons near Dallas, says camp is a place where kids with diabetes can feel included. “She had not met a little diabetic,” she says. “She knows lots of adults; her grandmother has diabetes. She had never had to see another kid go through what she does: have to get three or four shots or have to sit out because your blood sugar is low.” For Alexis, camp is a place where she can just be a kid—not the kid with diabetes who has to leave class to get special shots.

The hundreds of other children and teens with diabetes provide more than friendship. Over the course of a week, they become a support system—sometimes even a cheering squad—for one another. “Maybe you’re newly diagnosed. Maybe one of your bunkmates has done [insulin injections] for years,” says Long. “I’ve seen times when the whole cabin is cheering a kid on: ‘Go ahead, do that! You can do it!’ You have nine other guys your age telling you that you can do it, cheering you on.” Krautkremer says it was at camp that he learned to give himself an insulin injection.