A local couple hopes to

make a difference

in the lives of children

with cancer through

a Montana camp.

The Granaders can't wait to introduce the children
to Betty the Buffalo.

Photo try Glenn Triest

JENWER FINER

STAFF WRITER

C amp Worthy

J

im

ust because Harry
Granader
of Birmingham
an
recently dedicated his life to
establishing a camp for chil-
dren with cancer does not
mean someone close to him
is inflicted with the disease.
He just wants to help.
"You don't have to have
cancer in your family to want
to do something for these chil-
dren," he says. "Chil-
dren with cancer have
learned to live on a dai-
ly basis with fear, anx-
iety, pain and the
constant reminder that
they are different. I
want them to have fun,
to swim, to hike and be
outdoors."
1992, Mr.
In
Granader, now 78, and
his wife Sylvia began
planning and fund-
raising for Camp Mak-
A-Dream, which is being built on
86 acres of the couple's 10,000-
acre ranch in Gold Creek, Mont.
Mr. Granader, who brought

the ranch because of his love for
the outdoors, became involved
with children who have cancer
in the 1970s. He helped found the
Ronald McDonald House in De-
troit and a second house in Ann
Arbor.
`The Ronald McDonald House
is for families with sick children
(to stay near Children's Hospi-
tal), but I thought it would be
nice to help the kids directly,"
says Mr. Granader, who owned
a handful of Detroit-area Mc-
Donald's restaurants until pass-
ing them on to one of his sons.
"If you're at a camp like ours,
you are just like the rest of the
kids. And these children want to
be with their peers."
Barbara Cushing, a pediatric
oncologist at Children's Hospital
of Michigan, said there are two
camps in Michigan for children
with cancer. But Camp Mak-A-
Dream appears to offer the chil-
dren a more significant camping
experience.
"Such camps have a positive
effect on the children," Dr. Cush-

ing says. "It allows them to do
things with their peers, and the
activities they can do are not lim-
ited because the camps offer a
protected environment.
"It certainly helps their out-
look in terms of the treatment
procedures and outcomes they
may face. It would seem to me

"A trip to this camp
would be something
very special."

Dr. Barbara Cushing

that a trip to this camp would be
something very special."
There are cancer camps
around the country, but most op-
erate from existing camps for a
week or two during the summer.
Only a handful of permanent
cancer camps like Mak-A-Dream
exist, including actor Paul New-
man's camp in Connecticut.
In addition to donating a por-

tion of their Montana ranch, the
Granaders have given $300,000
as seed money and a $1 million
loan guarantee to help get the
project off the fund. They are
trying to raise *. • 7 million to fin-
ish all construction and start an
endowment.
When all three phases of con-
struction are complete, the camp
will be outfitted with six cabins,
a pool, an infirmary, central
lodge, staff housing, a ropes
course, an amphitheater and
play field. The camp also is be-
ing built to accommodate wheel-
chairs, campers with limitations
and a helicopter pad for emer-
gency use.
The first phase of construction
is well under way and camp is
expected to open for a week this
summer, and for the entire sum-
mer beginning in 1995. It will ac-
commodate up to 96 children a
week.
Young people between the
ages of 8 and 18 will be able to
spend seven days at this non-sec-
CAMP WORTHY page 100

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