There's nothing depressing about Barretstown, its new chief executive, Peter Scallan, tells Theresa Judge
Personal stories told by children who have survived cancer and other serious illnesses make the Barretstown website one of the most absorbing you can read. Fourteen-year-old Declan Molloy, for example, describes what it was like to get leukaemia at nine, having "chemo", taking a bath and noticing all his hair had clogged the plug-hole, and how he felt a few months later when someone suggested going to Barretstown.
"To me, going to some stupid camp full of sick kids was the last thing on my mind."
But the first thing he noticed was that the staff at Barretstown "didn't even look at my head - they looked at my face first". Over the following days he did "arts, canoeing, fishing, zipline, high hopes, horse riding, singing and much more" and he was "sad to leave even though I knew I would be back the following year".
About 1,380 children spent time at Barretstown in 2006 and the aim is to increase the numbers to about 1,700 next year.
But practically all of the money to pay for this level of activity has to come from fundraising. "We have to raise €5 million a year and each year we have to start from scratch," says newly appointed chief executive of Barretstown, Peter Scallan.
A native of Wexford, he has been in the job in Barretstown for only a couple of weeks. He has just completed an MBA and before that spent 13 years as director of the family firm Celtic Linen.
So why choose Barretstown and is it not a difficult environment to work in, even a bit depressing given how seriously ill most of the children are? "There is absolutely nothing depressing about it - the focus is very much on what the child can do, it's about hope, it's about living your life. It's about making the transition back to school life, to the school yard, to fighting with your brother or sister."
Scallan points out that 80 per cent of children and teenagers who get cancer recover from the illness.
He says there are a few misconceptions about Barretstown - that it's a place for children who are dying, and that it's for either rich children or poor children. In fact no child or teenager who goes to Barretstown pays, so it is for everybody regardless of family background.
And children and teenagers aged from seven to 17 come to the Co Kildare camp from all over Ireland and Europe.
The children who spend time at Barretstown have to be well enough to take part in the wide range of activities that the camps involve, so while many of them are on medication they cannot be confined to bed.
Programmes are also run for families so the siblings of seriously ill children get a chance to participate.
The work at Barretstown is described as "therapeutic recreation", more commonly known as "serious fun" and it is recognised as playing an important part in a child's recovery.
The children who take part in camps at Barretstown generally have one of four conditions - cancer, serious blood disorders such as haemophilia, renal failure or cystic fibrosis.
Because they have had these conditions, Scallan says they have often been "overprotected, wrapped in cotton wool" but the focus is different at Barretstown. "The tendency, quite rightly, has been to protect the child, but we remove the cotton wool, and encourage the child to challenge themselves and help them grow in confidence," says Scallan.
The therapeutic recreation programme has four stages - challenge, success, reflection and discovery. And the 500 acres of ground at Barretstown - an estate with a country house built around a castle - is a perfect and picturesque location. There's a lake, a 300-seat theatre and stables for the camp's 13 horses. There's also an award-winning restaurant and 13 cottages where children and sometimes families stay.
In addition to 38 staff, which includes two nurses and sometimes an oncologist, there's also a requirement for about 100 volunteers to stay with the children and act as a "cara" to them. There can be up to 120 children on site.
Barretstown currently has a pool of about 680 volunteers - some of whom are former participants - but more are always needed. Depending on the length of different camps, they are needed for between four and 11 days and training is provided.
Scallan asks companies to consider giving staff time off to volunteer.
Because many children come from abroad, it is particularly useful when volunteers speak foreign languages so the staff of large multinationals or call centres would be ideal, he says.
Barretstown was first established in 1994 by American actor Paul Newman who had already established two similar camps in the US. There are now 11 camps around the world but each centre does its own fundraising.
The Barretstown estate was donated by the Irish Government for a nominal rent.
While other centres have been established in the UK, France, Hungary and Italy, Barretstown is now recognised as a centre of expertise in therapeutic recreation. This year it has started a "Barretstown and Beyond" outreach programme, and over the next three years, courses will be run in different locations in Ireland, the UK, Spain and Germany.
This means an additional 1,200 children will be catered for.
Most of the children are referred to Barretstown through Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin, with some referrals also from Cork and Belfast and the Haemophilia Society. Scallan says that every child in Ireland can be catered for and they can make two return visits. There are also special programmes for families who have suffered a bereavement.
All of this work is only possible through fundraising and this is the biggest task facing Scallan. He praises the network of private and corporate donors who have funded the work since 1994.
However, more help is always needed and details of fundraising activities are on the barretstown.org website.
"We need every penny of that €5 million - we are always under pressure and any more we get, we will use it," he says.
The value of the work can hardly be questioned.
As Declan Molloy wrote as he reflected back on the experience: "We went home and I felt different. Something was back inside me that had gone for a couple of months and it is only now that I realise that the thing was childhood."