Camp for cancer patients designed to support entire family

“Even two and a half years in, it’s still kind of hard to let my children know when I’m having a bad day.”

These are the words of Angie Grossman, a breast cancer patient from Wilton, North Dakota, who recently participated in a sleepaway camp alongside her husband, Phil, and their two daughters, Piper and Paisley. The retreat is specifically tailored to support <a href="https://parentmoneylife.com/2026/09/10/targets-new-cookbook-brings-100-easy-recipes-to-busy-families/” title=”Target's New Cookbook Brings 100 Easy Recipes to Busy Families”>families navigating a cancer diagnosis.

What is Camp Voyage?

Camp Voyage is a complimentary weekend program for families where an adult is battling cancer. Patients may attend with their spouse and children between the ages of 6 and 18. The primary objective is to empower families to confront cancer with resilience and unity.

“When someone receives a cancer diagnosis, it doesn’t happen in a vacuum for that individual. If a parent is diagnosed with cancer — any stage, any cancer type, any treatment type — that is inevitably going to affect the entire family,” said Andrea Paradis, a behavioral health counselor and one of the creators of Camp Voyage. “One of the first things that we hear from people with a diagnosis who have young kids at home is, ‘How do I help my kids?’ So we wanted to be able to provide some kind of education or skills-building time together.”

The camp is held one weekend annually at Pelican Lake, located near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. During the retreat, families acquire coping mechanisms and work on improving their communication. Attendees also split into separate groups for adults and children to discuss relevant issues in a secure, supportive environment.

Time for kids, adults, and classic camp fun

“Kids are learning about cancer and emotions, how to cope, and communication skills that are age appropriate. Small kids in one group, then preteens and teenagers in another, and then the adults are all together,” Paradis said. “We’re talking about similar things, like how do you deal with your own emotions and stress? And how do you communicate with your kids? So they’re getting separate but mirroring information and education, and then we have them come together to do a family activity. That’s pretty fun.”

Angie noted that she and Phil appreciated the opportunity to discuss their parental concerns with other couples.

“We could get some tips and tricks on how other families have dealt with those issues,” Angie said. “I really loved the sessions that explained the range of emotions in kids and how to get them talking about those emotions instead of just having frustration all the time. That was really helpful for us to use those techniques with our kids when there are bad days or weeks.”

Naturally, the weekend also includes plenty of traditional camp activities, such as craft projects, game rooms, and bonfires.

For the Grossmans, a significant aspect of the experience was connecting with others who were navigating the same challenging circumstances.

“This camp was good for the kids,” said Phil. “Being in a smaller town there’s only a couple of kids that have gone through it or been around it, but even then it’s maybe not at the same stage in their life as Piper and Paisley were. So I think that was a key bonding period. They were trauma-bonded in a way. They didn’t really have to talk about it. Paisley latched onto another little girl. Piper latched onto a couple kids there and normally she’s a little more reserved. They just knew what each other was going through.”

The Grossmans also mentioned that the camp offered a necessary break, allowing them to focus on their family interactions without the usual distractions of home life.

“It was just nice that you didn’t have to go right back to day-to-day life,” Angie said. “You could enjoy that evening time with your family, and nobody had to go to work or school. You just got that time together to discuss and still be in that moment rather than rushing off to something else.”

Roughly two and a half years ago, Angie was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. The illness had metastasized throughout her body, affecting bones from her neck to her femur, necessitating extensive treatment.

“I started out with a femur rod surgery for the cancer in my leg, and then radiation. My monthly treatments are hormone blocking shots and bone builders. I also take an oral chemotherapy targeted drug every month,” Angie said.

While the medical treatment was demanding, managing their home life proved equally difficult.

“Within hours of the diagnosis, it was, ‘Let’s get the whole team rolling and meet all these people,’” said Phil. “It’s a whirlwind the first two, three months of trying to navigate work and working around all those doctor’s appointments until she kind of got settled in.”

The constant schedule of appointments and the reality of the illness impacted not only Angie but also Phil and their children.

“Anytime I’d go to pick the kids up, they’d be worried, like, ‘Where’s Mom? Mom always picks us up. Is Mom back in the hospital again? Is she gonna come home tonight?’ ‘No she’s just in for a checkup or lab work or something like that,’” Phil said. “Mom can only give so much energy. So I use the analogy of there’s only so much gas in the gas tank.”

This is why Camp Voyage served as such a welcome relief for the Grossmans and the other participating families.

“Everybody is having their own experience. There are, however, some similarities across the board,” said Paradis. “It’s stressful for everybody, right? No matter who you are and what your diagnosis is, you’re trying to juggle your doctor’s appointments, plus what your kids are doing, plus getting dinner on the table, plus, plus plus.

“Emotions can be very similar as well. A lot of what we see is this grieving process that happens after a diagnosis that ‘life is now different.’ That is a huge commonality.”

After consulting with counselors and bonding with other families at Camp Voyage, the Grossmans felt a sense of connection and gained practical tools to use at home.

“To give ourselves grace was the biggest thing,” Angie said. “I still have trouble with that. At the beginning I felt like I had to do everything for my kids. It was so hard to ask for help. Two and a half years into it, it’s still hard. So it was great to hear that it’s still OK to ask for help.”

The experience also helped establish boundaries and personal space for their daughters.

“We made a tie blanket,” said Phil.

The blanket features one solid side and one patterned side. The concept is that if the solid side is facing up, the child does not want to talk, whereas the patterned side indicates they are open to conversation.

“The other day I walk out, and it’s been a couple weeks now since camp, and she’s got the blanket laying there and she can see me coming around the door. She flipped it over and pointed it out,” Phil said. “It was just like, ‘I don’t wanna talk right now. I’m gonna flip this blanket over.’ But there’s probably that time when she’s flipping it the other way, you know?”

“Parenting skills and learning about cancer at a developmentally appropriate age level, stress reduction, and emotional coping and communication skills. Those are our three main objectives to help build and strengthen the family unit,” Paradis said.

The bonds they formed, along with the realization that they are not alone, remain equally significant.

“It was wonderful for us all,” Angie said. “I was really hoping to connect with other families that are going through the same thing, and we really did, which was wonderful.”

How to attend or support Camp Voyage

Camp Voyage is provided at no cost to patients, thanks to the generosity of donors to the Sanford Health Foundation. These contributions enable Sanford Health to offer this program and support participating families.

Attend: If your family is interested in attending Camp Voyage for free, visit sanfordhealth.org or call the Sanford Health Fargo cancer survivorship line at (701) 234-7463 for more information.

Support: If you would like to support Camp Voyage with a gift, call (701) 234-6246 or visit sanfordhealthfoundation.org, select the Sanford Children’s fund, and add Camp Voyage in the comments.