Sorry to hear you are having health issues! I agree with seeing if your credit card company can do anything for you. They should have informed you of their cancellation policy over the phone.
If they gave a rip about repeat business or customer service, they'd at least tell you something like "We'll see if we can find somebody else to occupy your reserved cabin, and if so, we'll give you a full refund. If not, we'll see what we can do about a partial refund since it's a special case."
Just to play devil's advocate, their website does clearly state their cancellation policy: "Cancellations with less than 2 weeks notice are not refundable, LLWS reservations are not refundable, all reservations cancelled with 2 weeks notice will be charged $20 fee. Reservations cancelled with less than 2 weeks notice are not refundable." (from
https://riverside-campground.com/rates.html) But if you didn't look at their website how would you know?
Last year I had a negative experience with a different private campground in SE California, I had booked a tent site for a single night on a moto trip and gotten confirmation over the phone. They called me back the next day and said that the rate had increased 400% because "it was a holiday weekend and they hadn't realized that at the time of booking" - OK, maybe true, but that's super shady. Seems like they should have ate that cost as it was their error. I told them how absurd that was, cancelled my "reservation", and left them a 1-star review on Google Maps detailing what I felt like was a bait-and-switch. I got a super nice spot at a local state campground just a little out of the way for half the original price
To help others out, you might consider leaving a review that they were unwilling to budge on their cancellation policy in extenuating circumstances, so at least others are aware.
Hope you are on the mend!
