• Special Love
    A community of support for children with cancer and their families
  • November 2 10:00am - November 2 5:00pm
    Young Survivors Forum – Moving Forward
  • October 11 - October 13
    Octoberfest Family Weekend 2024
  • October 23 4:30pm - October 23 5:00pm
    Squishy Circuits Virtual Program with SVDM
  • November 16 - November 17
    Parents’ Getaway Weekend 2024

Programs for

About Us

“The hospitals saved my son’s life, but Special Love saved his soul.”



Special Love provides a strong, nurturing environment for children with cancer and their families through its free camps and getaway weekends, emergency financial assistance, virtual programs, and educational scholarships for young adults who have beaten cancer and now want to move on with their lives.

Camp Fantastic, our cornerstone program for 7-17 year-old cancer patients, is considered a protocol within the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and has made Special Love a recognized National Institutes of Health (NIH) charity.

Since our inception in 1983, children have come to Special Love from the Washington metropolitan area and from all across the country thanks to our partnership with the NIH and other area hospitals.

Each year, Special Love serves hundreds of children, teens, and young adults ages birth to 30 years old and their families.

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Patients

Camps/Programs

Every year, Special Love welcomes hundreds of pediatric cancer patients, ages 7 to 17, to our camps and adventure programs. Each one provides time away from the hospital and its strict schedules, as well as the pain and isolation that come with cancer treatment. Programs are designed to provide a place to laugh, play, share with new and old friends, and even take a few healthy risks. A place where they can just be kids.

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Siblings

Camps/Programs

BRASS is designed specifically for the siblings of pediatric cancer patients, as well as bereaved siblings. BRASS offers them a place for open, honest dialog with other campers and counselors to ensure they too are enveloped in a strong support system where they can put the family trauma of cancer away to spend time being a kid, In an environment where the focus is completely on them. The importance BRASS plays in the siblings’ lives is significant; so much so that most camp counselors, as well as counselors-in-training, are former BRASS campers themselves.

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Family

Camps/Programs

Quality family time is one of the hardest things for a family to find when their child has cancer. They need that time to reconnect as a family, share some fun and laughter, and strengthen their bond during a stressful time. Special Love’s family programs are designed to do just that, by hosting opportunities throughout the year.

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Next Program

Octoberfest Family Weekend 2024

  • October 11 - October 13
  • Northern Virginia 4-H Educational and Conference Center

Hold onto your haunted hats, we’re going back to the Northern Virginia 4-H Center, home of the very first family weekend, for more fun at Octoberfest Family Weekend on October […]

Upcoming Programs

Oct 23 2024

Squishy Circuits Virtual Program with SVDM

  • October 23 4:30pm - October 23 5:00pm
  • Virtual

Join us and our friends at Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum on October 23rd at 4:30 p.m! In the virtual program, you will have the opportunity to explore circuits and electricity, while […]


Nov 2 2024

Young Survivors Forum – Moving Forward

  • November 2 10:00am - November 2 5:00pm
  • Hilton Garden Inn Tysons Corner

The Young Survivors and Patients Forum is a dynamic event designed for young adult cancer survivors and current patients, offering a unique opportunity to connect, learn, and grow. Participants will […]


Nov 16 2024

Parents’ Getaway Weekend 2024

  • November 16 - November 17
  • Hyatt Regency

Parents Getaway Weekend is a weekend solely for the parents of patients and survivors who are 25 years old or younger and still live at home, as well as bereaved […]


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