A week of sunshine

Annie Flanzraich

Friday, July 15, 2005 | 3:48 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 16-17, 2005

There are no sick kids with sallow, drawn faces at Camp Firefly this weekend. There are, however, plenty of freckled faces lit up with excitement.

The camp is for children who have suffered though cancer and their siblings who have been through the ordeal with them. But they aren't melancholy and they certainly aren't moping around the green campgrounds of Torino Ranch, nestled in the Spring Mountains about an hour west from Las Vegas.

The campers spend their time with activities such as karaoke or water gun fights by the lake.

Before singing the lead verse to "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, Katherine Brown, 15, announced Thursday that she is going to be the next American Idol. Her 11-year-old sister, Amber "Baby Girl" Brown, was onstage too, singing backup.

Both Amber and Katherine are cancer survivors. Katherine suffered from a brain tumor, and Amber has battled leukemia and spinal tumors. But while belting out karaoke, they're just two sisters having a great time at summer camp.

Almost 80 percent of children with cancer are cured, according to Dr. Ronald Kline, who is a camp counselor at Camp Firefly and also is a pediatric oncologist at Children's Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases of Las Vegas.

Still, the farewells at the end of the four-day camp are always bittersweet because there are usually six or seven children who will have lost their bouts with cancer by the following summer. That prospect usually lingers only in the back of the minds of the counselors.

"They (the kids) don't have problems in their eyes," said Scott Gragson, who has been a counselor at the camp for two years.

Gragson supervises the older boys at the camp, and said that even though they come off the bus with an aloof attitude, by the time they leave camp, it's a different story.

"It opens a whole new world for them (the kids)," he said.

It also opens up a whole new world for Gragson. He said that after a weekend with the children, he goes back to work as a senior vice president of land at Colliers International and "There are no complaints to be had."

At camp the children take on new identities. They don homemade bead necklaces, each of which has a circular piece of wood upon which campers write their camp name.

"They are free to be who they want to be," said Kari Tillman, the executive director of Project Sunshine, the organization that makes Camp Firefly possible. "It gives them a chance to escape."

In addition to Camp Firefly, Torino Ranch is home to three other camps for critically ill or disadvantaged children ages 4 to 17.

Camp Independence, an experience for children with bleeding disorders, took place June 23-26. Next up is Camp Haven, Friday through July 24, for children who have been abandoned and Camp Sol, Aug. 4-7, a camp for children who have arthritis.

There is no attendance fee for the children. Project Sunshine is funded by a number of community partners such as Colliers International, Southern Highlands Golf Club Charitable Foundation, LaPour Partners, Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining and Whittlesea Bell Transportation.

The camps take place on 40 acres of land owned by Brent Torino, a Las Vegas real estate developer and triathlete. The grounds are landscaped with flourishes of trees and flowers that surround the small cottagelike cabins. A new multipurpose room, or barn as they call it at the camp, is being built this summer. The camp is supervised by community volunteers.

One key feature of the camp is that it also takes in siblings of the affected children as well.

"Most people don't realize that they (the siblings) need as much help and love as the patients," said Kelly Schettler who has been a camp counselor at Camp Firefly for two years. She and her husband, Vince Schettler, are also donors to the program.

Tillman, who started the camp in 1999, said that the camp environment is open and accepting. The children there don't toss out the regular insults that might be heard at other summer camps, she said.

"This is our bubble world," Tillman said. "Healthy kids criticize each other and we don't hear that here. These campers have a different spirit about them."