Lindsay Geris loves Camp Week.

Held the first week every August at Helen Henderson Care Centre, the program is one of the most popular activities at the retirement lodge and long-term care home in Amherstview. Lindsay loves every minute of the music, games, food and campfire songs.

Smiling at the home where she has worked as a Registered Practical Nurse for the past seven years, Lindsay is proudly sporting a camp shirt from her days at Camp Banting, a summer camp for youth with Type 1 Diabetes in Southeast Ontario. It’s Aug. 11, the last day of camp, and Lindsay is glowing with a lifetime of good memories from her past.

She reminisces about the first time she attended Camp Banting in the summer of 2003, 12 years after she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

“It was very exciting to be surrounded by everyone else who had Type 1 diabetes,” she admits. “It made you feel like you’re not the only one. Camp was very high energy; it was so empowering. You learn how to manage your diabetes, how to sing and dance with a chronic illness, and that nothing will hold you down.”

Lindsay was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was nine months old.

“The doctors said I wouldn’t live till 12,” she says thoughtfully, noting diabetes wasn’t understood as much then, as it is now.

She learned how to manage her chronic disease at Camp Banting after seven years as a camper, seven years as a counsellor and two years as a nurse.

“I’ve had it for 32 years and I don’t have any complications,” she says with a smile. “I like to think I am an inspiration. It was my dream to help children with diabetes and I accomplished that by returning to Camp Banting as a nurse. I’m proud of that.”

Known for her fun, easy-going manner, Lindsay credits camp with making her the person she is today. She met her fiancée, Eric, at camp and they are now the proud parents of a healthy two-year-old girl named Elizabeth.

“I just keep going,” she says with a laugh. “I only have one-speed.”

Looking around the home, Lindsay says Camp Week at Helen Henderson Care Centre is her camp away from Camp Banting.

“This brings back good memories,” she explains. “There were no bad memories at camp. It taught me how to live with and manage a chronic illness that requires daily care. There’s no break with diabetes. It’s 24/7.”

Helen Henderson Care Centre loves Lindsay Geris’ enthusiasm for camp. To learn more about living or working in our home, please call 613-384-4585.