By Michael Gelbwasser, Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury – Shrewsbury High School junior Patricia Egan scratches every day due to a skin disease she developed at six months old called atopic dermatitis. However, that hasn’t stopped her from sprinting for the Colonials’ indoor and outdoor track teams, or playing for the school’s girls’ soccer team.
Egan described her condition as “the most severe form of eczema.”
“I began developing it at six weeks old when my skin broke out in rashes,” Egan said. “My skin is very dry and blotchy and rashy. Back then, it used to be covered in cuts all of my body. I couldn’t really bend my legs.”
“Most people with eczema grow out of it when they are young, while others experience some skin flares every once in a while,” she continued. “Then there is an even smaller amount, like myself, who develop it at a young age and experience the most severe form for life.”
A new 5K Run/Walk – the first annual Duck Dash – will benefit a camp for kids with skin diseases like Egan has – the fundraiser’s director.
The event will benefit Camp Wonder, based in Livermore, Calif., where Egan has attended for 10 years beginning at age 7. She will be a counselor for the first time this season.
She began attending Camp Wonder when “my mom looked into something she could do so I would have an outlet with kids that were going through something similar to me.”
The camp enables “kids with skin diseases” to “have a week without judgments or stares,” Egan said.
The event is named for the camp’s mascot, a duck.
“The first year Camp Wonder was created, a camper with a severe skin disease told the founder of our camp that she wished she could be a duck so no one would see her skin, they would only see her feathers,” Egan said. “This statement impacted our camp founder so much, she decided to make the duck our mascot.”
Egan said she organized the fundraiser “so that I can give back to the camp, because they’ve given me so much.”
“A lot of them have to use wheelchairs. It’s really a chance for them to be able to do things like going swimming, or rock climbing if they want,” she said. “I’ve made some of my best friends there, without a doubt. I still talk to them almost every day.”
“Before, I was just like, ‘I’m the only one going through this.’ But now, I have this whole support system of people My counselors had such a big impact on me. They really tried to make sure that everyone was so involved in everything that we were doing. I’m excited to be able to do that now with campers.”
The 5K Walk/Run also was inspired by Egan’s interest in running.
“I had been playing soccer since I was little, and I found that my favorite part of soccer was the part where I got to sprint past everyone and steal the ball,” she said. “I realized, ‘Maybe I should try to do something with this.’ I decided to join track. That got me to enjoy running even more.”
She started with winter track as a Shrewsbury High School freshman, and is finishing her sixth season between the indoor and outdoor teams.
“It’s something that I enjoy. And I’m one of the very few that can actually go for runs at camp,” Egan said. “I have kids cheering me on, and these kids can’t run. They’re in a wheelchair or they’re limping, because of their skin. ‘They can’t run, so run for them.’”
The first annual Duck Dash for Camp Wonder is at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 13, starting and ending at Sherwood Middle School, 28 Sherwood Ave. Registration is $20 by June 1, or $25 on race day. More information is available at http://duckdashforcampwonder.weebly.com/.