ALAMOSA — “Welcome to your new normal.” Jan Mortensen recalls those words spoken to her 10 years ago by nurses working in the burn unit at Children’s Hospital Colorado (CHCO) after two of her young children had been severely injured in a fire. “They knew what they were talking about,” Mortensen says.
On Tuesday, July 1, 2014, Tamlen Mortensen, 5, and her little brother, Dane, 2 ½, were playing in the family’s camper parked outside their home in Sanford when they found a book of matches and lit them, accidentally catching the camper interior on fire.
By the time the kids were rescued, Dane had suffered severe burns on 42 percent of his body while Tamlen had severe burns on 36 percent, mainly on her back and feet.
“They were only 2 and 5 when this happened,” Mortensen says. “This has basically been their life.”
Taken at face value, Mortensen’s words might suggest that the last 10 years have been filled with nothing but suffering and pain. Over the years, both kids have gone through so many painful surgeries that Mortensen has lost count.
“I think Tamlen has had 25 surgeries, and Dane has had about 30,” she says.
But Mortensen’s voice and demeanor are in sharp contrast to the painful journey she relates. In a show of her personal strength and resilience, Mortensen describes her children’s lives and, by association, her family’s life, as being rich with experiences, opportunities, friendships and support.
And much of the credit for that, she says, goes to an extraordinary program at CHCO called “Burn Camp.”
A TRUE VISIONARY
Forty-one years ago, a psychologist on CHCO’s burn team, Marion Doctor realized a very real need existed among burn injury survivors and families after the acute care was done. The “outward facing scars” were healing but, inside, burn survivors and their families were still very much in pain.
That gave birth to an idea that, with the help of a burn surgeon, became a reality in 1983 when Doctor created Burn Camps. As Tim Schuetz, CHCO Director of Outreach Programs puts it, Burn Camps give both children who have sustained a burn injury and their families the ability and courage to thrive throughout their recoveries and beyond by offering inspiration, rehabilitation, and shared experiences in a safe, nurturing and supportive environment.
“The program was incredibly visionary,” says Schuetz. “[CHCO was] one of the first burn camps in the nation and the world, and that’s why we have other hospitals refer their kids to us. We like to say that we’re one of the first and one of the best.”
Now, 41 years later, CHCO’s Burn Camps include programs for kids of all ages. At Family Camp, survivors aged 0 to 7 come with their parents and siblings who are helped in dealing with the life stressors that came with traumatic burn injuries. There’s another camp for teenage survivors. Held in Steamboat Springs during the winter, the teens spend days on the slopes skiing and snowboarding and participate in programs at night.
But Burn Camps’ flagship is the summer camp program held every year in Estes Park’s Cheley Colorado Camps. “We bring 85 campers from all over the nation to a camp where burn survivors can just be a kid for a week. They don’t have to worry about anything else that’s going on. They just hike and horseback ride and mountain bike and fish and camp and do all the things that other kids do.”
The purpose of burn camp, Schuetz explains, is to create independence because the natural progression of a kid becoming independent can be stopped by a traumatic burn injury. “Instead of saying to their kids ‘you can be independent, you can do things for yourself and take risks’, parents often become fearful,” he says. “We teach them how to appropriately take risks because that fosters self-identity and independence in the survivors’ lives. We’re helping to get them over some really hard things – some really hard things – so they can ultimately thrive.”
But other lessons learned through the burn camp experience run very deep and can alter how a kid views himself, how he sees himself fitting in with others and how a family learns to move forward.
“Because our camp brings kids in from all over,” Schuetz says, “kids learn there are others going through what they’re going through. They learn they’re not alone.
“That’s one of the amazing things about our program, specifically for kids like Dane and Tamlen. They’re some of the only burn survivors in Alamosa, Colorado. There isn’t a community there for them. There isn’t a place for them to go where someone can say ‘I know what you’re doing through.’
“Burn Camp creates that safe space, that community for burn survivors. They don’t have to talk about it if they don’t want to. They can just look around and see others just like themselves.”
And families benefit, as well. “The kids get so tight and make such good friends that it brings the parents along, too. A community’s created for parents where they can talk to each other and support each other and learn from each other, too. It’s an amazing thing to see.”
But there is one lesson that goes even deeper to places that might be the hardest but most important places to reach.
“The survivors learn that their scars don’t define them or who they are as individuals,” Schuetz says. “They learn that their scars are a part of them and a part of their story, and they can continue to go on and be who they are.”
Mortensen recalls one burn camp experience that was especially meaningful.
A 13-year-old boy with burns similar to Dane’s had been hiding in his room and wouldn’t come out. “Our kids were involved in a chess tournament,” Mortensen says. “He came out and saw what was going on and asked if he could play the winner. Our oldest daughter, who wasn’t burned, said sure. I saw him later and asked who won, and he said, ‘Boy, she whooped me bad!’ Just like any 13-year-old kid. And that’s a big part of the burn camp. The kids see that they’re okay and have a lot to offer and go on with life.”
Tamlen and Dane Mortensen personify that attitude.
“I’m so impressed and excited that they’ve immersed themselves in the program and the community and continue to say yes to all the opportunities that come their way.” Schuetz adds that Tamlen went to Washington D.C. this past weekend after being chosen by burn camp staff as the best camper to attend the annual International Firefighters Association burn camp retreat, which will include guided tours of historic sites, numerous monuments, the Smithsonian and laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Looking back, Mortensen says it’s been a long haul. “It’s one of those things that you can’t describe. But they’ve done so much for our kids and hundreds of others. It means a lot.”
CHCO operates solely off donations. Anyone wishing to contribute should contact Tim Schuetz at Tim.Schuetz@childrenscolorado.org.
