Having a daughter with cancer puts life in perspective, Shirley Larson said.

This week, Larson, her husband Robert, son Clay, 11, and daughter, Elizabeth, 7, are focusing on enjoying life at Camp Sunshine in Casco, where they are spending the week with 40 other families with a child who has been diagnosed with cancer.

The trip is one of the first the whole family has made together since Elizabeth was diagnosed at 3 years old with neuroblastoma, a cancer that arises in immature nerve cells. It is one made through the generosity of a national restaurant chain.

Even being together as a family, as the Larsons are this week, has been a rarity since Elizabeth was diagnosed. Shirley Larson takes her daughter to a pediatric oncology center in Spokane, Wash., 3 1/2 hours and two states away from their home in Missoula, Mont.

During the first nine months after Elizabeth’s diagnosis, mother and daughter were away from home for all but three weeks.

“This vacation could be our only chance,” Larson said of the five days they are spending at Camp Sunshine. “You learn to live each day to the fullest.”

Camp Sunshine provides free programs for children with life-threatening illnesses and their immediate families. For the Larsons, this week was paid for by the fundraising efforts of Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

Last year, the company, celebrating its 10th anniversary, decided to create a holiday – national flip-flop day. This year they decided to use the holiday to raise money for a national charity.

It was McKenzie Shelley, a member of the team, who chose Camp Sunshine as the recipient. After speaking with Matt Hoidal, executive director of the camp, Shelley decided Camp Sunshine was her first choice.

“There was something a little more magical speaking to him,” Shelley said.

Marketing staff encouraged the 275 cafes to raise money through sales of items like paper flip-flops for the camp and worked to match local families with individual branches so they could sponsor them. Overall, Tropical Smoothie Cafe raised $125,000 for Camp Sunshine, which will help send 83 families to the camp.

The local branch of Tropical Smoothie Cafa in Missoula was looking for a family to sponsor at Camp Sunshine when a family friend got word of the search and suggested the Larsons.

Founded in 1984, Camp Sunshine is a year-round retreat, which offers week-long camp programs for families in the summer, each week focused on a particular illness or disease. The camp is free of charge for all families and includes 24-hour on site medical and psychosocial support. Sponsoring a family for a week costs $1,500.

During their first morning at camp, Robert and Shirley Larson participated in ice-breaking activities with other parents while Clay and Elizabeth joined their own age groups for basketball, arts and crafts and games.

The camp provides regular camp activities for all age groups during the day while children have the comfort of being with family during meal times and in the evenings, said Nancy Cincotta, camp psychosocial director.

Cincotta described the camp as a blend of fun and counseling, elaborating that the experience provides families with an opportunity both to get away from the illness through fun and to talk about their experience with others who understand.

The connection with others experiencing similar situations is important, Cincotta said, as many families with children with life-threatening illnesses feel isolated in their home communities.

The Larson family was changed dramatically by Elizabeth’s illness. When they found out about the diagnosis, Shirley Larson said, “it felt like the world stopped.”

“It was like someone punched you in the gut,” her husband added.

Clay Larson said it’s hard for him, too. He has spent a lot of time staying with his grandparents or aunt and uncle during his sister’s treatments over the past four years.

“I pretty much lived with relatives,” Clay said about the first nine months after the diagnosis.

Robert has learned to do laundry, his wife joked. While Shirley and Elizabeth are in Washington, Robert has to stay home and work at his job at a paper mill to support the family.

“That was a hard adjustment,” he said. “It does take a toll on your relationship.”

The family can’t afford vacations because of the expense of Elizabeth’s treatments. Shirley Larson said treatments are never less than a week long. During that time they have to pay for transportation, room and board. Shirley can’t work when she takes her daughter to Spokane and their health insurance doesn’t cover all their medical expenses.

The Larsons said they make too much money to qualify for aid. “You either have to be extremely rich or extremely poor,” Shirley Larson said.

The couple said it can be hard for others to understand what their family is going through. “It’s hard to connect with that feeling,” Robert said. Shirley Larson said she was very much looking forward to having the chance to talk with other families.

“It sure puts things in perspective,” Shirley said. “You learn how little control you have over your life.” She said the experience has encouraged her to live each day to the fullest.

“There’s a kind of growth that comes from the challenge,” said Cincotta, who has been working at Camp Sunshine since 1987. In therapy sessions parents often talk about the impact of the diagnosis on their families. The impact, Cincotta said, is not always negative.

The founder of Camp Sunshine, Anna Gould, said she was inspired to establish the camp with her husband, Dr. Larry Gould, after watching a program on television during which a reporter asked a child with cancer about death.

She did some research and didn’t find any programs oriented to families. Gould, who owns Point Sebago, adjacent to the camp, with her husband and lives in Massachusetts, started a pilot program in 1984. Though they initially offered a family and individual program, the family program drew all the participation.

Gould said the transformation families go through is inspiring. “You can’t explain it,” Gould said, adding that it’s hard to tell if families or volunteers get more out of the experience.

Dr. Irene Cherrick was the camp doctor for this session. She has been working at Camp Sunshine one week a summer for around six years.

During the rest of the year she is a pediatric oncologist in Syracuse, N.Y. She brings her husband and children to the camp each summer, and her husband and older children volunteer. Having a doctor at the camp all the time is a security blanket for the parents, Cherrick said.

This is the third year Chuck and Lindsey Cross, of Oneida, N.Y., have brought their five children to Camp Sunshine. They said the atmosphere and the volunteers bring them back, and the fact that they don’t have to worry about cancer treatments for their daughter. Lindsey Cross said their children start looking forward to going back to the camp as soon as they get home.

“The environment is magical,” Gould said. “It’s the only place where a family can say, this is normal.”

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