Lauren Broussard, 17, of New Iberia, found her own personal utopia at age 12.

That utopia was in Camp Bon Coeur — a camp held in Louisiana, open to children with heart defects from all over the United States.

“Camp means everything to me,” Lauren said. “Sometimes it’s hard for even me to put it into words — camp is like utopia. It’s my paradise. It’s where I go to see people just like me, people who understand everything about me and I understand everything about them.”

Advertisement

Lauren has atrial septal defect.

Her mother, Sandra, found out about the defects when Lauren was 8 from a doctor in New Iberia.

“To me, it was shocking,” Sandra said.

Camp Bon Coeur has its summer session in Eunice and is open to children ages 7 to 16, with one counselor per five campers. This year’s session lasts from July 21 to Aug 1.

The application deadline has been extended to June 13, said camp communications consultant Lizzie Trigg, with room for about 10 more. The camp hosts 50 campers maximum.

Sandra also found out about camp in an unusual way.

She was standing on the street in Lafayette for Mardi Gras with Lauren. Next to her were a woman and her son, who was in a wheelchair. It turned out the woman was the Camp Bon Coeur director.

“The first year was really tough, because Lauren had always been with me — and I was going to leave my child with people I had met on the street for Mardi Gras,” Sandra said.

It was through a class offered to families by the camp that Sandra found out Lauren’s deep breaths meant she was trying to replenish oxygen loss because of blood regurgitating through a leaky valve.

“She couldn’t help it,” Sandra said. “I thought it was a bad habit.”

Lauren will be going back this year for her sixth year at camp — this time as a Counselor in Training (CIT).

“I knew the second day I was at camp, I wanted to be a CIT,” she said. “I never wanted to leave that place.”

The first year he attended Mark Husers of New Iberia, who will turn 13 in less than two weeks, said he “liked how everybody worked together and how they helped set up camp.”

Some of his favorite activities are horseback riding, canoeing and swimming. The first year he didn’t know anyone, but now has several friends from around the country.

“I just think it’s wonderful,” said his mother, Dianna Husers.

“The kids come from all over the States. He gets to meet people he wouldn’t normally have any contact with. I can’t say enough about it.”

She said directors work for an entire year to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Mark was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot as a 1 month old. A congenital heart defect, it meant two open heart surgeries in one day when he was diagnosed, another surgery at 11 months old, another at 2 1/2 years old and another last August.

Dianna said this will be Mark’s third year at camp. This year, he still needs to find a $500 sponsorship.

“I had been looking forward to it since he was a baby,” Dianna said.

“Camp is a really good place. Camp is the one place he can go where he’s accepted by everyone.”

She also said she never questions his safety there.

“I never think twice about it,” she said. “I’ve met several of the counselors and the counselors in training — very, very caring. They’re just all there willing to help you and guide you through the whole process.”

The camp’s cost is around $1,500. Camp Bon Coeur is a non-profit group and Trigg said camp officials always welcome donations and sponsorship and try to get at least partial financial support for most campers.

More information is available on www.heartcamp.com.