A sense of peace settles over the acres of Camp Victory, the home to Camp Cranium for a week every June. High humidity made it feel like almost 100 degrees.
Birds chirp as campers and counselors laugh and talk. Some craft, while others learn how to shoot a bow and arrow and the group’s most daring tackle the zipline.
A similar air of peace has settled over Tony Sadowski, Camp Cranium’s executive director since 2024, as he lounges in a wooden rocking chair and looks proudly after his 18-year-old son Bryan, as he talks with friends and walks toward the dining hall for lunch.
“We go from that scary, traumatic moment as parents, where you're in the emergency room ... not knowing what version of your son's going to wake up, and we're very lucky to be able to be here and enjoy this week with him,” Sadowski said.
Bryan first went to camp a decade ago. He and the rest of the 25 Camp Cranium campers are all survivors of traumatic brain injuries. The National Institutes of Health defines a traumatic brain injury as “a brain injury that is caused by an outside force.”
Bryan suffered a brain bleed that caused a hemorrhagic stroke at 6 years old. Now, he’s a high school graduate, preparing for a fresh start in the fall. He'll study occupational therapy at Elizabethtown College.
"After years of working with lots of therapists and them being a special part of his life, he said for years he might want to go into pediatric OT and help other kids in the same way that they helped him," his father said. "We're really proud."
Sadowski watched Camp Cranium transform his son, not only physically, but mentally.
“I remember dropping him off that first year when he came to camp in 2016, and he was a relatively shy kid,” he said. “He had physical impairments and was scared to do a lot of things. The kid I came back and saw from Monday to Friday was a different kid, having that independence here, trying some new things, seeing photos pop up on Facebook of him determined to climb that rock wall, doing a zipline, out in the paddle boats, fishing with his counselor. He just had so much fun. I remember we have photos of him just crying on the last day. He had such a great experience, and it really does change kids for the better.”
What does Camp Cranium have to offer?
Sadowski, a humble self-proclaimed “tour guide” and “camp parent,” easily navigated a golf cart through the Columbia County woods, nestled into 150 acres near Millville. He smiled at campers and counselors, trading fist bumps and high fives as he went.
He pointed out the campers’ cabins, decked out in an under-the-sea theme with handmade decorations.
In an open field, campers and counselors cheered as arrows struck their targets during archery hour.
Camp Cranium’s director of operations Drew Meyer watched, and a few tears escaped behind his dark sunglasses.
“They will surprise you, like flat out. You'd be like, I don't know if we can shoot archery, and they'll come out here, and they'll shoot for three hours and start hitting the target,” he said.
He loves to watch the campers come out of their shells as the week progresses.
“They're kids, they're teenagers, and it's probably one of the biggest things that I hear from them is, ‘I can be me,’” Meyer said.
Campers range in age from 10 to 21. It costs $500 per camper, with what Sadowski calls “camperships” for families with financial needs.
Leadership guarantees that each camper will be paired with at least one counselor through the week, but depending on campers’ needs, that could be two or even three counselors to one camper.
“The counselors come in not understanding what we're about to do, and they're thinking, ' Oh, I'm going to come here, I'm going to be like helping these kids do everything,' and then by the end of the week they're panting to try to keep up with the kid,” Meyer said.
Counselors are in high demand.
“Our biggest need is continuing to find new folks to come out and join us, and be part of this experience each summer and help out with the kids,” Sadowski said. “It's incredibly important for the kids, and I know that I've heard firsthand from so many of the counselors and volunteers over the years that they can't imagine not being here once they start, so we'd love to keep it going for many, many years to come.”
Sun filtered through a clearing in the trees where campers tackled a rock wall, just a short golf cart ride away from the archery field. Jonathan Blankenship climbed the wall. He’s 15 years old and a first-time camper. His traumatic brain injury occurred after a car accident. His doctors gave him two years to live. It’s been three, and now he’s forging new friendships and making it to the top of a rock wall.
“I'm healing. It makes me feel good,” Jonathan said.
As Jonathan spoke, campers and counselors cheered for another camper scaling the wall. A hoist pulled him out of his wheelchair as counselors shouted for him to “Grab onto the handholds!” He used his arms to pull himself up, as the hoist supported the rest of his body and gave him an extra boost. The clearing erupted with laughter and claps as he made it to the top and rang the bell.
Camp Cranium aims to eliminate barriers.
“I haven't seen anything yet that they haven't been able to do with time and with the drive and with the creativity so that to me is the biggest takeaway, they will find a way to get it done,” Meyer said.
Other activities include swimming at the camp’s pool, fishing in the pond, camp fires and a dance under the stars at the pond’s pavilion.
Marissa Whitman Motts came to camp during its inaugural year in 2008 as a camper. She suffered a traumatic brain injury after getting hit by a car in 2004 at 14 years old. She now works as the camp’s assistant programming director and serves as a board member. Camp Cranium helped her to grow. And she loves to watch it have the same effect on new generations of campers.
“Becoming a counselor and being able to see all of the kids experience the camp life just like typical kids is amazing… it's beautiful to see them all do all these different things that typical kids can do too,” she said.
Combatting isolation brought on by traumatic brain injury
The National Institutes of Health found that traumatic brain injury often leads to social isolation and loneliness. And that can have an impact on both mental and physical well-being.
“An incredible gift that Camp Cranium gives to parents and campers is a community that they can't find at home,” Sadowski said. “Having a brain injury and any kind of disability can be very, very isolating, and having the opportunity to find other people who just get it, who have the shorthand, who understand what you've been through. No matter what it is that brought you to Camp Cranium, your story is just as valid as everyone else.”
Bryanna Engleman has been a camper since 2018. Her traumatic brain injury occurred when she was 5, when doctors had to perform a hemispherectomy to disconnect the half of her brain that was causing seizures.
“My left side is weak. Think of it like I'm like a stroke victim that didn't have a stroke,” Engleman continued.
She said her initial reaction to camp was that it was “odd” at first. It was her first time being around so many people like her.
“It made me think, well, there's actually good people out there,” Engleman said.
This year is her last year as a camper since she’s now 21. She said she’ll take a gap year and come back as a counselor to support other campers like herself.
“It's like a home to me. I found people that don't judge me like the real world people do. I found a family,” she said.
Whitman Motts first arrived at camp when she was 18. She knows the value of the community camp builds.
“It was awesome to be around a group of people that were just like me, because brain injury is common, but not so common,” she said.
Supporting families, not just campers
Sadowski knows it’s difficult for parents of children of all abilities to reckon with the concept of sleepaway camp.
“You go from a couple years of post-trauma, you're helicoptering your child, and you're on top of them every waking moment to make sure that they're okay,” he said, laughing. “Then the next summer we drive three hours away from home and leave them in a field and drive away."
He said trusting in Camp Cranium is a form of self-care for parents and reassures them that he was in their shoes a decade ago.
"I always tell parents it's really important for you to catch your breath, because otherwise you're just in trauma mode, and you need that breather too," Sadowski said.
He encourages parents even thinking about sending their children to Camp Cranium to go for it.
“As a parent, I would love for people to know about organizations like Camp Cranium. It can be difficult to find opportunities for your child in the world, places you may think that you can't afford it, you may think it's inaccessible, you may not know it's there,” Sadowski said.
Engleman said camp helped her gain confidence. And that her parents look forward to sending her each summer.
“They are happy for me, they feel like they are also supported, and just glad I get to experience it,” she said.
The sun shines, reflecting off the vibrant green of the woods surrounding camp like a hug. Sadowski reflects on the past decade of caring for his son through his traumatic brain injury, shading his face from the bright sun and perhaps from the emotions the conversation uncovered.
He wants other parents to know the week away is worth it to see the change in confidence in their child.
“What is important about camp is we see the gradual progress that all these kids are making, and what feels small to some people, like being able to tie your shoe on your own again, something like that is incredibly important and huge for that child, because it means more independence, it means they have more control over their lives and less dependency on their parents or others, so those things are huge,” Sadowski said.
