Manchester's Sarah Lenau is a 'champion' for kids with cancer

A Manchester woman is taking on a daunting two-day trek across the White Mountains to help send childhood cancer patients and survivors to camp this summer.

Sarah “Hedgehog” Lenau is a “Camp Champion” for Camp Casco, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization she has volunteered with for five years.

It’s not just an honorary title.

On June 5 and 6, Lenau and her fellow “champions” will hike the Presidential Traverse, tackling up to 11 of New Hampshire’s 4,000-foot peaks.

Each class champion commits to raising at least $1,600, which covers the cost of sending one child to camp for a full week. And each has a “buddy,” one of the campers who benefits from Camp Casco’s programs.

Lenau’s buddy is a 7-year-girl named Avery who has leukemia.

“It’s not going to be easy by any stretch, but obviously being a childhood cancer survivor is not easy, so we’re all excited to do it on their behalf,” Lenau said last week.

Lenau, who turns 29 a few days before the trek, is the marketing and promotions manager for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, organizing the in-game presentations that make minor-league games special.

It’s about “just making sure that fans are having fun and having a great time,” she said. “You can’t beat coming to a ballpark every day for work.”

Lenau, who grew up in Bakersfield, Calif., came East to attend the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where she majored in sports management. Her first job after college was in the development office at the Sports Museum in Boston’s TD Garden.

Looking for an opportunity to volunteer, she saw a post seeking help organizing a fundraising gala for Camp Casco. She met Erin Fletcher Stern, who had started the camp a few years earlier.

“Spend five minutes with Erin and she can pretty much convince you to do anything,” Lenau said, laughing.

That was in 2016, and Lenau has been volunteering as director of special events for Camp Casco ever since. She helps Stern plan social events for campers and their families and all-ages galas that recreate the camp experience. ”We’ll always end the night with a camp sing-along,” she said.

The human element

Stern called Lenau “a dynamic and energetic and imaginative young woman.”

The first time they met, Stern told Lenau: “Everyone needs a camp nickname.”

“I’ve never had a nickname in my entire life,” Lenau said.

“What’s your favorite animal?” Stern asked her.

She blurted out, “hedgehog.”

It stuck. “I’ve been a hedgehog ever since,” Lenau said.

Stern, 31, is also a California native, hailing from San Diego. She moved east in 2013 to pursue a doctorate in cancer research at Harvard. Stern had volunteered for a pediatric oncology camp back home and looked for a similar opportunity here, but “there wasn’t anything quite like it in Massachusetts,” she said.

So she started one. And she ended up leaving graduate school to run Camp Casco full-time.

“Many of us in bio really care about the human on the other side of things,” Stern said. “How can I do research that helps people and makes a difference in the lives of people who are affected by cancer?”

But ultimately, she said, “As much as I love the lab and love research, I still wasn’t feeling that direct human impact I ultimately wanted.

“That’s where camp filled that gap.”

Camp Casco is a program, not a place. The organization rents camp facilities in different locations each year so they can devote their funds to programs that directly benefit their campers, Stern said.

The organization sponsors a week-long overnight camp that youngsters can attend for free. Last year, camp activities were online, which Stern recently decided would be the case again this year.

Their camp population is too vulnerable to take any chances, she said.

Parallel journeys

Stern and Lenau came up with the idea for Camp Champions two years ago. They wanted to create something similar to the Boston Marathon, where many runners raise money for their favorite causes, Lenau said.

“We really wanted something where people who wanted to support our organization could challenge themselves to something that’s bigger than them — which I would say the Presidential Traverse definitely is,” Lenau said.

The program was supposed to kick off in 2020, but like so much else, those plans were changed by the pandemic. Instead, last year’s Camp Champions undertook personal challenges and raised funds on their own.

This year, they’ll be hiking together.

Everyone participating in the trek has been vaccinated, and rapid testing will be done on arrival and departure, Stern said. “We’re able to do it in a way we’re confident that we can keep everyone safe this year, and we’re super excited about that.” she said.

Stern said she has seen how her campers struggle with long-term effects of cancer even years after diagnosis and treatment.

“It doesn’t go away just because chemo ends,” she said.

“For us, a long, long, challenging hike, very physically but also very mentally and emotionally challenging, does tie back in some way to that long-term up and down journey, with a lot of uncertainty, that childhood cancer patients and survivors face,” Stern said.

Although camp will be virtual again this year, Camp Casco also will offer some “unplugged” activities, for those kids who are “Zoomed out,” Stern said. And in September, they’re planning an in-person weekend retreat for teen campers.

Lenau said she’s excited and feels prepared for the upcoming challenge. She’s been hiking in the White Mountains every weekend and underwent wilderness first-aid training, just in case.

“I can’t think of a better organization to raise money for — and to drag myself across multiple mountains for,” she said. “And to really give these kids all of the support they need.”

Source: The Union Leader