{"id":2441744,"date":"2019-03-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=301722"},"modified":"2019-03-15T07:22:16","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T13:22:16","slug":"shining-stars-gives-children-with-life-threatening-illness-the-chance-to-glow-with-aspen-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/shining-stars-gives-children-with-life-threatening-illness-the-chance-to-glow-with-aspen-camp\/","title":{"rendered":"Shining Stars gives children with life-threatening illness the chance to glow with Aspen camp"},"content":{"rendered":"
Shining Stars barbecue on Thursday, March 14, 2019, at Buttermilk Ski Area.<\/strong>
Austin Colbert\/The Aspen Times<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bennett Curtis has been to that deep, dark place only something like cancer can take you. In 2013, when he was 13, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma and developed numerous tumors over his upper body.<\/p>\n

Miraculously, he survived and now is cancer-free. But that experience is something he\u2019ll never be able to forget. Most of it was obviously bad, but there was some good to come out of it, such as getting involved with the Shining Stars Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are going through something like cancer or other life-threatening diseases, you feel like no one understands you,\u201d Curtis said. \u201cI often felt like I had it worse than everyone else, and it\u2019s super easy to get that mindset. But I came here and I saw kids that had it so much worse than I did and they had a smile on their face. They are living life to the fullest. They are skiing, they are snowboarding and they are having a great time. So I just thought, \u2018Why can\u2019t I do the same?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With its administrative office based in Winter Park and its event office here in Aspen, the Shining Stars Foundation was founded in 2001, with roots that go back even further. Over that time, one of its mainstay events has been the Aspen Winter Games, which just concluded yet again at Buttermilk Ski Area.<\/p>\n

The foundation works with children challenged by pediatric cancer or other life-threatening illness by providing them year-round recreational and social programs, such as a week of skiing or snowboarding in Aspen. Around 70 kids from across the country took part this past week.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople sometimes think it\u2019s a little crazy that we take these kids who are really sick, some of them are still on treatment, and we bring them to Aspen,\u201d said Ryndi Zastrow, the foundation\u2019s director of programs and events. \u201cOur goal when we bring them here to Aspen is to just let them be kids. Forget about the medical, have a pool party, do a disco dance night, go out skiing and snowboarding and just remember what it feels like to be a kid again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtis understands it all too well. He, after all, was a Shining Star not that long ago, and the second he turned 18 decided to return, albeit in a different role. From Chicago, Curtis fell in love with skiing through his time in Aspen and after defeating cancer went on to become a certified ski instructor.<\/p>\n

This was his third year being back at Buttermilk, where he is helping the children discover a freedom they may not have known was possible between hospital trips and chemotherapy sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere you are not a kid with cancer,\u201d Curtis said. \u201cIt puts a smile on my face. It\u2019s as simple as that. It gives you so much hope. Just watching these kids, throughout their whole life they\u2019ve been either put down or told they can\u2019t do things because of their condition. Here, the sky is the limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtis is one of roughly 250 volunteers \u2014 Zastrow said they are the \u201cheartbeat of the organization\u201d \u2014 who make the weeklong event possible. While a lot goes on in that time, it\u2019s really the skiing and snowboarding that stands out. For so many of the children, this is their first time giving Aspen\u2019s No. 1 pastime a go. It\u2019s also likely one of the few opportunities for them to take part in a physical activity with their illness often making things like skiing impossible.<\/p>\n

Christi Mueller, another volunteer ski instructor from Chicago, has been coming to the Aspen Winter Games for a handful of years now with her father, who also is a ski instructor. Christi\u2019s brother died of cancer 14 years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the joy throughout the week that brings me back,\u201d she said. \u201cEarlier this week I was working with a girl and she was so weary the first two days and then something clicked. By the end of the second day she was begging to go back for more and she was loving it. It\u2019s fun to see them come alive through skiing.\u201d<\/p>\n

A large part of the volunteer staff includes a medical team. The hard reality is many of the Shining Stars still are very sick, and it takes a group of dedicated nurses and other medical professionals to make sure these illnesses don\u2019t interfere with the children\u2019s time in Aspen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese kids do have medical challenges and many of them are still on chemotherapy,\u201d said Kathy Hinkle, an oncology nurse from Phoenix who has been coming to Aspen with the Shining Stars Foundation for eight years. \u201cI always view my role as supportive. I want them to come here and forget that they have cancer. I don\u2019t want them to think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone who talked about the Aspen Winter Games had a heartwarming or inspiring story about one of the children. There was the Shining Star who Curtis helped instruct who was doing laps around him on Buttermilk: \u201cHere\u2019s this little 5-foot, 60-pound girl who is going through hell and I\u2019m just trying to keep up with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there was the boy Hinkle worked with, who is in remission from a brain tumor and has trouble with vision and balance. Still, put him on a sit ski and he might give Bode Miller a run for his money: \u201cJust think how liberating that has to be for him to have that freedom to be out there moving.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what matters. For a short week here in Aspen, these children get to forget about their troubles, forget about the cancer and simply be children once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe connections don\u2019t stop after this week. They go on afterward, and that\u2019s something pretty special,\u201d Hinkle said. \u201cShining Stars, it\u2019s become my family. I\u2019ve built friendships through these committed people. You cannot walk through the doors and not feel love here. It\u2019s a really magical place and the volunteers create that and I\u2019m so proud to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

acolbert@aspentimes.com<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bennett Curtis has been to that deep, dark place only something like cancer can take you. In 2013, when he was 13, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma and developed numerous tumors over his upper body. Miraculously, he survived and now is cancer-free. But that experience is something he\u2019ll never be able to forget. Most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2441744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 09:36:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441744\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}