A Dying Child's Last Wish Inspires Her Father to Start a Nonprofit

Camp Cheyenne Offers Free Victory Vacations to Low-Income Families With Kids Going Through Life-Threatening Medical Treatments

PENSACOLA, Fla., May 15, 2024 Towards the end of her life while on hospice care, Cheyenne Hughes was talking with her father about how she would help other families with a sick child if she could live. During Cheyenne's many years of surgeries and treatments, vacations always made her feel reconnected to her family, recharged, and ready to fight on. Paul Hughes, founder of the nonprofit Camp Cheyenne, used his daughter's last wish as the mission.

The entire family can be affected by stress, anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness, and other factors when a family member receives a life-threatening diagnosis. Parents worry about how to pay for living expenses and medical bills while missing work to care for their sick child. Siblings may feel left out and struggle emotionally as everyone focuses on the patient. This makes it easy for families to grow apart during treatments.

Vacations, especially a free one, can help families reconnect and heal.

Vacations, especially a free one, can help families reconnect and heal. More importantly, it helps the patient and their family recharge so they can fight on. "From personal experience, vacations improved Cheyenne's medical outcomes while allowing our family to regroup so we could support her in fighting the ongoing battle. Studies have shown that vacations help everyone's mental, emotional, and physical health", says Cheyenne's father and founder of Camp Cheyenne, Paul Hughes.

As a public charity, it takes the public's support to accomplish their mission. To learn more about Camp Cheyenne, volunteer, or donate, please visit https://www.campcheyenne.org

ABOUT: Camp Cheyenne's mission is to give families going through life-threatening medical treatments a free, weeklong victory vacation in nature to recharge and reconnect. Cheyenne's favorite vacations were about spending quality time together as a family instead of staying busy doing things. Camp Cheyenne will be a 21-acre nature retreat with modern amenities while still within a 45-minute drive to the beautiful Florida panhandle beaches. Contact Paul Hughes for interviews, pictures, or more information.