The Free Summer Camp No Cancer Family Should Miss | Ep. 20

Nobody hands you a roadmap when a parent gets diagnosed with cancer, and nobody tells you there's a free, magic-filled summer camp waiting for your kids. In this episode of the Let Me Know If You Need a Podcast, Amy Steinhour and Kristen Beck sit down with Ashley Borniger, Camp Kesem advisory board member, camp parent, and triple-negative breast cancer survivor, to talk about what it actually looks like to parent through a cancer diagnosis, and what happens when your kids finally get a space that's entirely their own. Ashley shares the full story: diagnosed at 40, two kids in kindergarten and fourth grade, four months into a new city, and a daughter old enough to Google her oncologist's credentials before Ashley had even processed the news herself. She didn't find Camp Kesem through a resource list. She found it while hooked up to chemo, laptop open, because her mom heard about it on the radio. Things You Will Learn: 1. Why kids process a parent's cancer diagnosis so differently from each other, and why both reactions are normal 2. What Camp Kesem actually is, how it works, who's eligible, and why it's completely free 3. What Ashley wishes she had known earlier about giving herself permission to ask for help Tools / Frameworks Covered: 1. The Kesem Model: A national network of university-affiliated, counselor-run sleepaway camps exclusively for kids whose parents have been affected by cancer. 2. Empowerment Night: A mid-camp circle where campers can share their cancer experiences voluntarily. 3. Asking as Agency: Ashley's own turning point as a real-life example of what it looks like to ask for help without framing it as failure. Timetamps: 0:00 Meet Ashley Borniger and Camp Kesem 1:05 Ashley's Diagnosis: 40th Birthday, Two Kids, Brand New City 4:35 How They Found Camp Kesem 6:44 Ashley's Daughter: The Old Soul Who Googled the Oncologist 9:36 What Camp Kesem Actually Is and How It Works 13:08 The Surprises Nobody Warned Her About 16:47 Were the Kids Hesitant? 20:07 Who Is Eligible and How to Find Your Local Chapter 24:25 How Kesem Fundraises 26:32 Ashley's Advice to Newly Diagnosed Parents 28:03 Comfort Food: The Meatloaf That Changed Everything #CommunityCare #AskingForHelp #EmotionalLabor #IllnessRealTalk #CampKesem ✅ SUBSCRIBE so you never miss an episode: YouTube:    / @lmkifyouneedapodcast   Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4qKPOo6... 📲 FOLLOW OUR SOCIALS: Facebook:   / letmeknowifyouneedapodcast   Instagram:   / lmkifyouneedapodcast   TikTok:   / lmkifyouneedapodcast