Tania gets a break from caring for mom to go to camp

When Parkinson’s disease took greater hold of her mother last summer, 11-year-old Tania Santoscoy volunteered to stay home and care for her, forgoing the bumper pool, cooking classes and camp friends she’d come to expect during these sunshine-filled months.

Summers for Tania had been spent at the Boys and Girls Club of West San Gabriel Valley in Monterey Park, but the preteen, who described herself as overprotective, said giving up camp to be with her mother was a welcome sacrifice.

“I stopped coming last summer because I didn’t know what was happening and I wanted to take care of her,” said Tania, a smiling, gregarious girl with faded blue highlights in her dark brown locks. “I don’t want her to fall down in the street.”

When financial troubles threatened to keep Tania from camp again this summer, the Boys and Girls Club intervened. The organization, one of many supported by the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign, awarded the incoming sixth-grader at Monterey Highlands in Monterey Park with a $500 scholarship to cover fees for the 10-week day camp.

The scholarship was a gift not only to Tania but also to her mother, Martha Casillas, 50.

“I couldn’t pay for her, and I don’t want her to be at home. I want her to be with children of her own age,” Casillas said, the cane she uses to steady her walk leaning against a nearby wall. Her message to her daughter: “Enjoy the life. Enjoy the summer — not worrying about me all the time.”

Casillas spoke in starts, pausing for seconds at a time as the words caught in her throat. Tania reached over periodically from her seat, blanketing her hand over her mother’s. It’s not uncommon for Tania to find herself in an adult-sized role of comforter and provider.

She does her own laundry, cooks meals for her family and has been known to stand up to the occasional bully for others at school. (“I’ve been bullied before, and I don’t like the feeling of it,” Tania said, “and I don’t like for other people to feel like they’re a nobody because I used to feel that way.”)

When asked where her daughter’s maturity comes from, Casillas said, “You know what, I don’t know. For her age, sometimes I say, ‘Oh, my God.’ I don’t know.”

Tania provided a more certain answer.

“I get it mostly from my parents,” she said, laughing.

Yesenia Diaz, vice president of programming at the Boys and Girls Club of West San Gabriel Valley, said she hopes the scholarship simply allows Tania to be herself.

“Tania’s like a little adult, but Tania also needs to be a kid,” Diaz said. “Tania loves performing. She’s passionate about the arts, and I think it helps her to come and feel like a kid, interact with kids her age, just worry about kids stuff.”

The Summer Camp Campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a McCormick Foundation Fund. The campaign raises contributions to support programs that provide thousands of Southern California’s at-risk children ages 7 to 17 with enriching, educational and fun camp experiences. Donations are tax-deductible as permitted by law and matched at 50 cents on the dollar. Donor information is not traded or published without permission. Donate online at latimes.com/donate or by phone at (800) 518-3975. All gifts will receive a written acknowledgment.