Save 50 on family outerwear. And its buy one get one free on family footwear. At kmart. My heart starts beating fast and i dont feel good. Because i have one arm. I was coming here. Nice job, well done. Something remarkable is happening here in the bay area and the beautiful Rolling Hills and vineyards of livermore. Its camp arroyo. Abc7 is proud to bring you the stories of some incredibly courageous people battling lifethreatening diseases. In our special program called i just like me. Its amazing to be here with all these kids. Its exciting and reminds me what i need to do. The Taylor Family foundation brings kids together like these through camp arroyo. Thank you fay legislator Family Foundation they partnered with the east Bay Regional Park District in 1997 to build this state of the art green campsite to host free camps for children and teens dealing everything from hivaids to asthma to autism and loss of loved ones. Im here because i have a heart condition. It was on the left side of her brain. I was born with one arm. We dont really know why. My father and pie grandfather died. My father died of a heart attack. Kids that come here with all these hard experiences at home, they get to play with kids and meet with other kids just like them. Its so much fun. I always talk about how usually the last day the girls are going home and they are going to miss their friends. But they are so tired because they stay up too late and they talk about everything about hard to eat. I cant go for a i cant go on the day. What do you think when you pass away from this disease. They share these commonalties that give them, i want to say a sense of peace and give them a feeling they are just not alone. Outside the camp i know no one else that has a heart problem or anything wrong with them. So its really special to me because i get to be with people that understand what its like. Whenever we can share stuff then some people know exactly how we felt. So that just makes me feel good that other people have the same experience. That was a reminder, i just want to be here and give it my all. This camp is only five days long but all the things we have here and all the fun. Sometimes kids start counting fingers and its important to have the kids recognize. Not only other kids with other things like that but there are hand differences just like them. They show their scars. One girl, says, oh, yeah, i have that, too. We have exactly the same things. They come here and see for the first time, you have the same scars as i do. Ill never forget the first time two little sevenyearolds took their shirt off. One of them reached over and touched it because they never seen it on another person. My goodness. It was just tearjerker but it was just so powerful what that one moment was for that child to open their eyes and say oh, there is someone like me. It changes their attitude. It changes their selfconfidence and everything changes. It gives them strength. I get to be here. Here its like no one can make fun of you. This is where kids can do what they want and not be afraid of being judged or being critical. Maybe i cant run but i can do other things and play basketball. When i was six years old i was diagnosed with a lung condition w called pulmonary hypertension. Ive been on an i. V. Pump. The spirit of kids when they are hurting. There is fierceness about living. Its upbeat. This is going to be good. Were going to be okay. Youve had four open heart surgeries and he suffered a stroke. He is just bag kid trying to understand his disease and what his limitations are. My condition is known as half of a heart. I wasnt able to circulated blood through my lungs or to my body. He remembers feeling different. So for a period he was feeling because of his scar on his chest not being able to keep up with his classmates. He was not expected to live but now he is going off to a college to be an rn in pediatrics. Its amazing. Because he did make it and he is you is of a mentor to those kids. Its an opportunity for growth and everyone to look up to you. Its an amazing growing experience for me. The things i love when these kids come to camp and they see older kids. They know they are going to survive. They know there is hope. It is not all about their disease anymore. Its about being a which would and playing and having fun and meeting other kids just like them. Meeting older kids that are in college. Im going to go to college no matter how critical i am. It the things you can do, not that you cant do. Cheryl these girls fight food issues every day but not at camp arroyo. Meet other kids like them when our special continues and learn how the camp all begin thanks to the Taylor Family foundation. They started out of their backyard and now have a massive beautiful campsite where they beautiful campsite where they can bring kids from all over people are stuck in very old habits of using toothpaste to clean their denture. But dentures are very different to real teeth. Theyre about 10 times softer and may have surface pores where bacteria can grow and multiply. Polident is specifically designed to clean dentures daily. Its unique microclean formula kills 99. 9 of odor causing bacteria and helps dissolve stains, cleaning in a better way than brushing with toothpaste. Thats why dentists recommend polident. [ male announcer ] polident. Cleaner, fresher, brighter every day. [ male announcer ] its no secret that the price of things just keeps going up. [ female announcer ] but we have some good news. Its our bundle price promise. [ male announcer ] a price you can definitely count on, for two whole years. From at t. [ female announcer ] a great price for a great tripleplay bundle. [ male announcer ] call now. Bundles with uverse tv, internet and home phone start at 89 a month. Now get the same great price for two years. [ female announcer ] switch today and get a total home dvr included, free for life. [ male announcer ] you get reliable, high Speed Internet on our advanced digital network. Choose from speeds up to 24 megs. [ female announcer ] and with uverse tv you can record four shows at once on your total home dvr and play them back in any room. [ male announcer ] so call now. Uverse tripleplay bundles start at 89 a month. Now get the same great price for two years. [ female announcer ] with a total home dvr included, free for life. [ male announcer ] its a tripleplay bundle thats hard to beat. Same great price. Two whole years. Price promise. [ female announcer ] that has a nice ring to it. [ male announcer ] only from at t. Its really nice. Everybody else has the same diseases. When you are in the hospital, whatever is going on with you, the camp is there for you even throughout the year. Even its something to look forward to, these five days you can be normal. You dont have to feel different there. I feel like im in my own world. Taylor foundation has helped more than 35,000 children have fun build confidence, break down stigmas. What do you tell people when they ask you about it. And make new friends so that each can say there are others just like me. Northern California Children didnt have any resources. Barry and Elaine Taylor started the foundation in 1990 to help children living with hiv and aids. From there it went to, the family needs strollers and bart tickets. Oh, my gosh, in the summer they only get to hang out but they have nothing going on. It was like we need to put something together. Cheryl that is exactly what they did. In 1997 they started Building Camp arroyo. The good things, it means there is more room for other kids. Cheryl by the time they opened in 2000. Taylor Family Foundation decided to open it up to all children battling lifethreatening conditions for free. When they first showed me the property back in the 90s, there was nothing . This was a big dirt hill. It was a tremendous amount to think it could happen. Look at this. It played out. Its so much better than i thought. Cheryl horseback riding, swimming, smores by the campfires. They have all the usual summer camp activities but its the campers that make this place so very special. Taylor Family Foundation take birthdays very seriously. We celebrate all of you because you are all that important to us. One, two, three , happy birthday to you happy birthday to you [ applause ] birthdays means a sweet and delicious treat but to kids at the camp it could be a trip to the hospital. It doesnt allow me to eat gluten or meat. I found it i had a celiac. If i go to a party and they have cake, i usually have to bring my own donut and cake and cupcakes. Everybody else is having their big donuts with filling and everything, i have this little one. That cake was one of best cakes i ever had. This cake is 10. 5. Its wonderful to see them on their face, some of them wind up crying and its pretty exciting to watch. You look at this. You know. When i come out here on a daily basis, oh, yeah we have a camp. Dont worry. I take someone on a tour and i watch their eyes grow. They say, how did you do this . People think i did it. I didnt do it. I took a lot. One of the things people dont realize you have a lot of doctors and nurses that volunteer their time to be here. What did i say last time. What did they sound like . Like horses, remember that . The kind of compassion that happens at the camp that doctors dont give anywhere else, they do it all free. I feel so lucky. I get to hang out with the kids. To go out and see them swimming or going up to the rock wall, i know what they really can do. Being here as a camper and not a doctor, it must be amazing . Its really fun. Its really very cool to look around and see all the kids and counselors, to see them really empowered and being an example for other families. Its really cool. To become counselors and take care of other kids, too. The counselors have the same type of differences they have, so we are a able to see them. They are in college or starting a new job. You kind of see for our kids how it translates later in life. To talk with other families and not feeling that were alone. That is huge for us, too. They go through life with a sword over their heads, knowing not how they are going to live or next day something terrible is going to happen. Its very challenging and stressful and affects the entire family. I never imagined this. It was more about the kids needed a place where they could fit in and say, you are just like me. You are the same thing. There is nothing wrong with me and nothing wrong with you. That is the gift the day Lar Foundation changes their life. One generous gift from a celebrity make thousands connect. Well 360 days, i look forward to five days they get to go. I definitely wanted to make it. I want to go down in history as, whoa, look what you did. I want to go down to history, all those kids that were helped. You were sitting in the lobby behind a newspaper, tell me what you want to do next . I said i really want to do this, know no you dont, you want to build a bocce court. Here is the reason, one of the best reasons its an ice breaker. It gets people to know each other. All you need to do is roll a ball. Children mix and mingle immediately. They are so isolated. You get them out here. You let them play and let them have some laughs and let them envelope each other. And then they become the resources for each other. This bocce court has been an ice breaker and Great Team Building thing. Were all learning how to take care of better and how to give each other. They love the camping and love hearing about somebody, they have autism and they dont noe thousand deal with it. And we can put them together with another family who has done it with such a sense of pride for their child. Its about helping people. Cheryl you have an incredible person who is working alongside you . I do. They are like the executive director. I think what i love most about her, she gets it. She is great Business Executive and she is great manager of people. She uses her heart to guide her to make it happen. If that was your child what would you do. If that was your mom. If that was your family. Cheryl you sound like peas in a pod. Yes. She says yes to anything and i figure out how we are going to pull it off. When it comes to kids, all we want to do is say yes. When it comes to the family all we want to do is say yes. We have to work for it and work on it. As a group that is what we do good. We really are good at building relationships and finding the right resources and connecting the families to what they need. I dont think they ever told me know about anything. Lets think about that. How can we make that happen . Every Single Person through the foundation. We are looking to our community what else we can help. What is going on . Not just in the trivalley but our whole range is northern california. We cast a wide net, there is still so many people that dont know what we do. We didnt even know about camp arroyo. We have been bay area residents for 18 years. It was all here all the time and we didnt know about it. There are families that need us. I wanted them to know. I can really support their needs. To know your community is there and Taylor Foundation is out to help you. That is what we need. This is kind of help that lasts and is powerful for family and kids to be here. Cheryl that lasting effort takes a lot of work and a lot of heart and lot of money. Kids that have very difficult time getting away and getting to summer camp and figure out a way. They havent had that experience. 49er quarterback steve young talks about the importance of the Taylor Family wanted to be associated, but she got to show he what they are doing and its really cool. There is a labor of love. When you are all in, its kind of neat. Hall of famer, steve young is one of many celebrities in the bay area committed to helping the Taylor Family foundation and camp arroyo. Is this a dream come true . It is a dream come true. When we started with all those kids and social programs and clinical programs, never for a moment this will be a lifelong endeavor. This was a lot of work and forever but forever is a good thing when you have kids that need it. Camp is going on the 14th year and things need to be repaired and restored. We need to be there to help service them when they have other needs outside of camp. Taylor Family Foundation is synonymous with camp arroyo. Cheryl but you provide other services . There are families that use transportation and could use help with their rent because of medical bills. Or we have somebody that needs help with college to get they will in the door. We cover a lot of funerals. We have done it since date we started. We probably have 3,000 kids through camp. We have probably helped more now closer to 80,000 families in the bay area. Cheryl 80,000 families, wow taking all the resources of family and based on all the money and kids can have this to come to. They are not even enough to pay for them to come. Im very thankful to the Taylor Family foundation. By giving to the Taylor Family foundation, they allow those things that others might take for granted. Very special things. Its all about the children here. It costs a lot to keep this rolling and to provide the camp for these kids that have no opportunity to do anything like this. It costs a Million Dollars every year. It doesnt cost a Million Dollars this year. Im continually to be amazed. I hope that other families that have special needs to have an experience like this. It needs to be available to other families. To see the children and see what a difference it makesing in the lives of these children and families. It really is an amazing experience. I wish we had a Taylor Family foundation everywhere. The work they do is very real and gratifying to know. Elaine was showing me pictures 20 years ago. I love that feeling i was associated with such a good group of people. Its the army of people behind me of donors and generous people and volunteers and counselors and communitywide from politicians to Fire Departments and our partners. Nothing would happen without them. What they can expect will be dazzled by how magical this facility is, how many people have come through this