Zubří in ancient Greek garb

The participants were divided into four cities -- Heraklion, Halicarnassus, Monastiraki, and Heliopolis -- and throughout the camp they defended the standing of their city to win the greatest favour from the Olympic gods. The gods subjected the citizens to various trials, which mostly related to stories from ancient Greek myths and legends. Throughout the camp, everyone became acquainted with a number of well-known figures from ancient mythology and their fates. They helped Odysseus cope with Poseidon's revenge after outsmarting the cyclops Polyphemus, helped Dionysus prepare a celebration, and even had to wrest the other gods from the clutches of the underworld for Hades. The most important pan-Hellenic festival also took place -- the Olympic Games dedicated to Zeus, in which teams competed in five disciplines testing the versatility of body and mind. All cities performed well, but only one could gain the absolute favour of the gods. The most successful team ultimately was the city of Heliopolis, closely followed by the others.

A highlight in the camp programme was a visit from archers from Tišnov, with whom we spent one evening, and especially the full-day trip, during which this year we set out to explore the beauties of the Moravian Karst. After visiting the Kateřinská Cave, we took a short walk to the Macocha Abyss, and with a surprisingly low number of other tourists around us, we could calmly explore this well-known area.

At camp, as always, it was necessary to develop the physical side under the supervision of our physiotherapists. Every morning, everyone gathers for warm-up exercises, and the entire morning is devoted to children's exercises in small groups, supplemented by individual therapy. There is thus plenty of opportunity to learn proper preventive exercises as well as the correct way to warm up joints or muscles after haemophilia bleeding episodes. A good tradition is to enliven the exercises with a visit to the swimming pool -- this year we tried a new location, the Municipal Baths in Nové Město na Moravě, and we can only say that we were absolutely satisfied with the facilities. A large swimming pool, a relaxation pool with a lazy river, and a whirlpool reliably entertained everyone. We are also very pleased that this year too, several haemophilia patients self-administered their medication for the first time at camp -- we strive to ensure that camps also help every haemophilia patient to confidently self-administer factor concentrate on their own, so they are not dependent on others. In this regard, great thanks go to the entire team of doctors and nurses who devote themselves to the children.

On behalf of the entire leadership team, we hope to meet most of the participants again next summer, in 2019! We would like to point out in advance that the camp will take place in August, from 3 to 17 August 2019, and the current proven location in Zubří remains.

Vojtěch Horník

The Czech Hemophilia Society thanks above all the leaders and medical staff who sacrifice their time, energy, and skills and actively participate in the preparation and running of the camp. Furthermore, the Ministry of Health for its continuous support of rehabilitation stays for haemophilia patients through grants, and all large and small sponsors -- this year especially the companies Novo Nordisk, Octapharma, Roche, Shire, Sysmex, Towee, the Tesco Foundation Fund, and Linda Bystrická. We sincerely thank you for your very effective form of support.

All photographs from the 2018 summer haemophilia camp can be viewed on the haemophilia Rajče page https://hemofilik.rajce.idnes.cz/.

Here we bring a small preview.