Camp caters to kids with cancer

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - It may look like your typical summer day camp but these campers are something special.  9-year-old Gabriel Grada is battling brain cancer, but at Sunrise Day Camp in Staten Island - he's just a normal kid.

The camp just opened in July and is the first of its kind in the city, a safe haven, free of charge, for young cancer patients and their siblings.

11-year-old heba, who's bravely putting up a fight with leukemia, says Sunrise is the one place she feels like she can be herself.

Susan Buerkle credits the camp for bringing more smiles and laughter into the life of her 9-year-old son Jake, a Leukemia patient.

As for little Gabriel -- he says he'll never let his personal struggles define him.

Camp ends on August 18th, but the kids say they've made lifelong friends and they'll be back next summer.