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Harrison Made A Wish To Go Camping

SooToday Article:

Harrison gets his wish, making him a happy camper

Written by Darren Taylor

Harrison Belair is a 6-year-old Sault Ste. Marie boy living with cancer.

Harrison recently told Make-A-Wish Canada his most cherished wish was to have a camping trailer to enjoy camping with his family.

With that, Christie’s RV stepped up to help Make-A-Wish Canada make Harrison’s wish come true.

Christie’s RV provided a big discount on a new trailer and also provided additional items and accessories Harrison and his family could enjoy while making memories on their camping adventures.

Harrison’s wish day happened July 17 on the lot at Christie’s RV where he, accompanied by father Richard Belair, mother Allison Dalton and older brother Simon, was overjoyed to receive his new camping trailer.

Mom Allison said the most memorable part of wish day was seeing how happy her boys were and seeing the quality of the trailer Christie’s RV provided.

She explained how much Harrison loves camping, and how the new trailer “will allow him to start to have a normal kid life again.”

Harrison was diagnosed with leukemia in November 2019 and is going through chemotherapy treatments.

Mom Allison said “he’s a trooper.”

Melissa Kahtava, Christie’s RV administrative sales and marketing assistant, in an email to SooToday in which she shared memories of Harrison’s wish day, wrote that Harrison is a “positively delightful little man, full of energy and radiates joy. Very busy, loves to run and play. (He has a) mischievous glint in his eyes, always up to something. He wore a yellow shirt that said ‘Awesome Since Day 1,’ probably true.”

A child who loves swimming, s’mores and water gun fights, “his eyes shone from the moment he saw the trailer and the excitement lasted beyond them waving from the truck with the trailer in tow as they exited the lot,” Kahtava wrote.

“Christie’s RV employees Nate Sawer, Jeff Rayner and BJ Perhonen came up with the idea to collect money and buy Harrison some extra items to make his camping experience the best time ever. So Nate, Jeff, BJ and myself pooled money (in addition to the marketing budget allowance) and I put together that additional table of goodies.”

“There was also a card we made that everyone at Christie’s signed and presented to the family…there was an incredible energy, even after they left. Everyone was thrilled to have been a part of such a great experience. It was an extremely uplifting and exciting day,” Kahtava wrote.

‘Why did Harrison make a wish for a camper?’ Kahtava asked Harrison.

“Well, to have a nice trip with my family…because I wanted to have a vacation and I thought it might be nice for all of us to have a vacation camping, somewhere like Pancake Bay…It has a really nice ocean to swim in.”

The lad said he was looking forward to swimming, roasting s’mores and having water gun fights.

“They did a nice thing,” said Harrison of Christie’s RV and Make-A-Wish Canada.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a nonprofit group, started up in the United States, that helps fulfill the wishes of children with serious medical conditions. It operates in the U.S., Canada and over 40 other countries around the world.

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