STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK
They came together to celebrate the superheroes in their midst: The little boy who held his younger brother’s hand while the 3-year-old was undergoing cancer treatment. The volunteer who took his vacation time to cheer on a young girl with cancer as she learned to ride a bicycle.
And when the Share Your Heart Ball was over, they were celebrating one another for the magnanimous donations each had made to ensure that kids with cancer, their siblings and their parents could enjoy a bit of normalcy in their lives.
“I’ve volunteered at 22 different Camp Rainbow Gold camps in seven years,” enthused Orlie Sather. “It’s life altering. The best gift is being with those kids.”
A sellout crowd of 450 people crowded into Sun Valley’s Limelight Room Saturday night for the 16th annual Share Your Heart Ball, which benefits Camp Rainbow Gold held every summer at Cathedral Pines north of Ketchum.
Among them, a 4-year-old wearing a superhero cape.
Easton Brown was 2 when Shane and Paige Brown noticed that his eyelid was drooping. Within three weeks it had completely shut, and the toddler was told he had orbital rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive tumor affecting soft tissue and muscle.
He immediately underwent chemo and proton radiation, hospital stays and emergency runs to the E.R. The traumatic six months was made easier by a superhero cape a friend gave the little boy who likes horses, princesses and story time.
“He wore it to every doctor’s appointment and it made him feel stronger,” said Paige Brown. “It’s like he can conquer the world when he has that cape on.”
Easton has been declared clean since. But it hasn’t been easy for his family to forget what they’ve been through. And that’s why the opportunity for Easton’s 7-year-old brother Nolan to attend sibling camp and the opportunity for the entire family to attend family camp at Camp Rainbow Gold proved so valuable.
“Family camp gave us the opportunity to be around people who understood what we’d been through, what we are still going through,” said Paige. “They get it—the ups and downs. And sibling camp was huge for Nolan. Parents are often preoccupied with the child with cancer so sibling camp gave Nolan a chance to be the center of attention. He wasn’t the brother of a kid with cancer. He was just a kid.”
Parts of the Sun Valley Inn were turned into a camp-like atmosphere with opportunities for ball-goers to lasso a steer head, shoot bow and arrow, fish and even pick a glass of bubbly in exchange for prizes ranging from diamond earrings to a gift certificate for Iconoclast Books.
“Childhood cancer. Any cancer—we’ve got to cure it. And we will,” said Julie Roos.
Among the Superheroes organizers celebrated Saturday was the late Adam West, who grew up on a Walla Walla wheat farm and went on to make 50 movies, in addition to the memorable “Batman” TV series.
West, a Sun Valley resident and a longtime supporter of Camp Rainbow Gold, agreed to lend his iconic voice to auction off lots one year when the auctioneer came down with laryngitis. And when he died of leukemia in June 2017 he asked that his fans make a contribution to Camp Rainbow Gold.
His family donated a limited edition, numbered and signed print of West’s “Batdog” painting for one of the auction lots. It went for $10,000.
“A complete gentleman he was,” said Ball Co-Founder Kris (Cronin) Nardecchia. “For you, Adam West, we shine for you and thank you.”
Among those taking part in a meal that included Snake River Farms New York Strip and a Batman Chocolate Mousse Bomb featuring a licorice fuse was Dr. Dave McClusky, a Twin Falls surgeon who founded Camp Rainbow Gold. He was joined by his son Dr. David McClusky III, who is a surgeon with St. Luke’s Wood River and a member of the camp’s board of directors.
McClusky III recalled how his father struggled to get funding for the camp, finally landing a grant from the American Cancer Society. When it looked as if the camp might not have enough funds to keep it going five years later, the Dam Fools motorcycle club of West Magic Lake Recreation Club came up with the money, in addition to launching the yearly motorcycle escort to camp.
“So to see these folks keeping it going now is incredible,” said McClusky III.
A former camp counselor himself, McClusky III said he will never forget a 10-year-old at the camp who had never had a chance to have friends because of his brain cancer.
“He was so excited to be at camp. He loved the toilet paper run, everything about it. These kids aren’t allowed to be kids because of their cancer. That’s why my Dad said they need a place where they can be kids, even if it’s just one or two weeks out of the year,” he said.
McClusky III’s son learned about cancer the hard way three months ago when one of his sixth-grade classmates at Community School was diagnosed with bone cancer
Isabelle Phillips, an ice skater and member of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation Nordic ski team, is being treated in Seattle.
“We’ll be here when she gets back and is given a clean bill of health,” said Nardecchia.
On the brighter side, Bellevue teenager Dylan Peterson, who suffered a relapse in her battle with leukemia, found a match in her father Tyler Peterson and her tests have come back clean, Nardecchia.
“We lost a third of the kids every year at first,” noted McClusky. “Now we lose maybe one or two a year.
Twelve live auction lots brought in about $154,000 Saturday, with the ladies from The Apothecary bidding $13,000 on a camp VIP Tour for two, complete with a tater tot casserole dinner and colorful piece of camper artwork. A trip to Bali brought in $16,000; a trip to a Justin Timberlake Concert, $15,000; a private dinner with custom menu designed by celebrity San Francisco chef Michael Mina, $17,000, and a Sun Valley Dreamin’ package including a winter season ski pass and gift certificates to the Brass Ranch and Panache brought in $14,000.
A paddle up brought in nearly $150,000 more, thanks in part to donations of $50,000 and $25,000. Organizers had yet to tabulate the silent auction items, which included a Denver Broncos football package and a Nordic ski package including a BCRD season pass, lesson with Vamps Founder Muffy Ritz and gift certificates from The Elephant’s Perch and Cristina’s.
McClusky noted that he would like to find a permanent home for the camp in hopes of expanding the camps offered.
“Kids with things like diabetes and cystic fibrosis need camps, too,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS:
Camp Rainbow Gold served 265 campers and family members free of charge this past summer.
It offers nine support groups.
It’s provided $760,000 in college scholarships to children who have had cancer, in recognition of the financial toll that dealing with cancer has on families.
Volunteers gave 27,000 hours of service last year; 80 percent return from year to year.
It costs $2,000 to send a youngster to camp.