First Descents: A memorable experience for all involved

First Descents, a nonprofit

organization that exposes young adult cancer survivors to kayaking

and other outdoor adventures to build confidence and other personal

skills, has been hosting camps for 11 years, and during that time

the experience has had nearly as great of an impact on the

volunteers as it has had on the participants.

Bigfork’s Dia Hollinger has helped with

First Descents fundraisers and brought meals to the camps for

several years, and for the last two years she has made an even

bigger commitment giving a week of her time to serve as a camp

mom.

“It’s exhilarating and exhausting,”

said Hollinger, who helped out at the fourth and final FD camp held

in the Kalispell and Columbia Falls area last week.

FD, which is headquartered in Colorado,

was founded by Kalispell native Brad Ludden. The Hollinger family

and the Ludden family are longtime friends, which was the original

attraction for their volunteering. However, after years of Dia and

her husband Scott taking dinners to the camps, and their son Dane

volunteering as a safety boater in his kayak, she has grown

attached to the organization.

“First Descents just embraces so many

of my passions — being out on the water, helping others and trying

to make a difference,” Hollinger said.

The group’s focus also hits home for

Hollinger, who is a survivor of thyroid cancer.

“I’m a cancer survivor and not only am

I here as a camp mom, but I’m also here getting the therapy that

comes along with it,” she said. “I get more than I give from being

out here on the river with these guys.”

Hollinger said that all one has to do

is look around during camp to be inspired.

“It’s proof that you can truly live

with cancer,” Hollinger said. “It doesn’t mean you have to stop

living, and you can live a truly adventurous, full life. Not just

live, but really live.”

She enjoys her time with the group so

much that she convinced some of her friends to join her as camp

moms for the week.

Terry Heinecke of Kalispell was one of

two other women that joined Hollinger as a camp mom — a job with

duties that include, but are certainly not limited to, preparing

and packing meals and making sure participants’ personal and safety

needs are well taken care of.

“I’ve been dying to be a part of First

Descents for a long time,” said Heinecke. “When Dia asked me if I

wanted to be a camp mom I was ecstatic.”

However, Heinecke’s excitement was

followed by an unpleasant surprise — the rare form of colon cancer

that she was diagnosed with seven years ago, and beat, had

metastasized.

At first Heinecke thought the diagnosis

would mean that she would have to miss the camp. But, a problem

with her insurance while at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

sent her back to Kalispell for a week, which happened to be the

same week she was to serve as a camp mom.

“What’s ironic is I’m a camp mom, but I

almost feel like a participant because I’ve gathered so much

strength and support and insight on this trip it’s been great,”

Heinecke said. “Next week I’ll be back in Rochester for treatment,

but I’m certainly leaving here fired up. That’s what First Descents

does though... This has been the best thing that could’ve happened

to me.”

Rounding out the trio of camp moms, or

“moms gone wild” as they jokingly called themselves on the raft

floating down the river, was Kellie Hilley of Bigfork. Although

Hilley hasn’t had a personal experience with cancer, being a part

of the camp was still eye-opening.

“I think it’s absolutely life

changingly amazing,” Hilley said. “I would say the participants

taught me what courage was all about. I’ve always wanted to do

meaningful work, and this is it for me. It’s also been a really fun

and exhilarating experience.”

An Evolving Program

Just as First Descents changes those

who are a part of it, the program itself is altered yearly because

of those who take part in it.

“We’re working on dialing in our

model,” said Rebekah Koenigbauer, who is First Descents’ events and

communications manager. “One of the big mottos in FD is to always

be changing and evolving, so we want to make sure we keep doing

that so we’re always meeting our participants’ needs.”

The organization has been growing to

fit the need of those interested in being a part of FD and its

programs. Last year there were 15 FD camps held, this year 27 camps

were held and 35 are scheduled for next year.

In addition to adding camps to ensure

as few applicants are turned away as possible, FD has also changed

the model for its camps.

“In the spirit of making sure we are

constantly evaluating whether or not we need to change, we adjusted

our program model,” Koenigbauer said.

Instead of having just one level of

camp for all participants whether they had been to an FD camp or

not, as has been the case in years past, camps are now broken into

different experience levels. FD1 is for those who are at camp for

the first time. A separate camp, FD2, is for those who are

attending a camp for the second or third time and those

participants are also asked to join Team FD — which is an extension

program created to challenge participants and volunteers and help

raise money for FD through adventurous activities.

“They’re asked to join Team FD and

that’s to help empower them and help reinforce the idea of paying

it forward by helping raise money to send a first-time participant

to camp,” Koenigbauer said.

For those who have moved through FD and

are still looking to challenge themselves, the organization has

established FDX, an extreme adventures program.

“It’s our manifestation of the

lifestyle and adventure-seeking mindset that everyone who is

involved with FD has from participants to board members,”

Koenigbauer said.

So far the adjustments to the camps are

working well for all involved Koenigbauer said.

“It allows the experience to meet them

where they’re at,” she said.

Helping the cause

Team FD is the organization’s biggest

fundraising action. Individuals choose their own physical athletic

challenge and use it to raise money for First Descents. It costs

about $1,000 to send one participant to camp for the week, so costs

add up quickly.

Team FD was started about two years ago

and it has already been a big success.

The organization hoped to raise

$300,000 through that effort by the end of this year. However, this

spring that goal had already been met. A new goal of $500,00 was

set, and that milestone is about to be met any day now too,

according to Koenigbauer.

For more information on Team FD, or

about First Descents, visit firstdescents.org.