Ben Goldman and Aaron Baral had to grow up fast. They had no choice.
Although they look healthy, both boys have cancer, and both have received extensive chemotherapy treatments to fight the disease.
They each spoke during a fundraiser for The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp at the Pond House Café in Elizabeth Park in West Hartford, and when they talked about how much the camp means to them, some people had tears in their eyes.
"Hole in the Wall is one of my favorite places on earth," said Ben Goldman, a sixth-grader at Emerson-Williams School in Wethersfield. "It's an awesome place."
He was 8 years old when he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and he has gone to The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for the past three summers.
Aaron Baral, a junior at Conard High School in West Hartford, missed a year of school after he was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005, and he went to The Hole in the Wall Camp the past two summers.
During his speech, Aaron said the week he spent at Hole in the Wall was the "best week of my life."
In 1988, actor Paul Newman founded The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Ashford, Conn. for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Because children attend the camp at no cost to their families, donations are crucial. A lot of families with sick children can't afford it; that's why fundraisers like this are so important, said Mary Goldman.
Although her son received weekly chemotherapy treatments for more than a year in 2005, the tumor in his brain is still active, she said. Doctors can't remove the tumor surgically because of the type of cancer it is and the tumor's location: Ben has an astrocytoma brain tumor on the hypothalamus.
"It's right up against the optic nerve, so depending on the direction it grows or if it changes shape, it could affect his vision," said Mary Goldman.
Every two months Ben goes to Connecticut Children's Medical Center for a brain scan to monitor the tumor.
Doctors told them for the rest of his life there is a 70 percent chance that his cancer will reoccur, she said.
"But Ben will be the first one to tell you that he considers himself in that 30 percent," she said.
What Hole in the Wall provides for kids with cancer is "invaluable," she said.
"Ben is just a normal everyday child at camp. That's the biggest gift that The Hole in the Wall Camp and anybody that helps them gives these kids," she said.
The event at The Pond House Café was the second time that Lisa Barall-Matt organized a fundraiser for Hole in the Wall. She is a realtor with William Raveis R.E. and lives in Canton with her family. Donna Halloran of West Hartford, who is also a realtor with Raveis, helped coordinate the event.
Barall-Matt said the event raised $11,225 for The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp - almost double the amount raised the first year.
"People were touched by the kids, and they kept saying what a worthwhile cause it was," said Barall-Matt.
Even people who couldn't attend sent in donations, she said. It costs $2,000 to send a child to Hole in the Wall for a week, so they raised almost enough to send six children to camp, said Barall-Matt. Bob Copell, of Canton, said the fundraiser was inspirational. He and his partner, John Arcangelo, run Two Pour Guys, a bartending service.
"Last time we donated our services. This time we donated liquor and services," said Copell.
All Lisa has to do is ask, and they will be at her next fundraiser, he said. Barall-Matt attended fundraisers at Hole in the Wall in the past, and she said that she wanted to organize a fundraiser of her own for the camp because her Great Uncle, Simon Konover, donated construction to help build Hole in the Wall.
Paul Newman named the camp after an infamous gang of outlaws out West, one of which he portrayed in the movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," co-starring Robert Redford. Many of the buildings at the camp resemble the "Wild West." Aaron's father, Mark Baral, said he noticed a big change in his son after he went to Hole in the Wall that first summer.
"After his week at camp, it looked like a lot of the weight of the disease lifted off his shoulders. Aaron found he could do things that he couldn't do when he was really sick," Mark Baral said.
Joyce Lemega, of West Hartford, who attended the local fundraiser, said Newman should get a lot of credit for his charitable work. "So many people use celebrity for things that aren't so good," she said. "He's to be commended for using his celebrity to help others. I buy his products because of where the money goes."






Jill Baral said that after Aaron was diagnosed with a "high risk" strain of leukemia the day before Thanksgiving in 2005, her son spent nine months in the hospital for chemotherapy treatments and the day before he went to camp, he received a blood transfusion so that he could go to camp.

In addition to chemotherapy, Aaron also received eight doses of cranial radiation to his brain to fight the leukemia, she said.
Because he was so sick during his treatments, Aaron "got to the point where he felt he couldn't do anything," she said.
Spending a week at Hole in the Wall changed that.
"We feel that Hole in the Wall gave us our son back," said Jill Baral.
During his speech, Aaron said that one of his favorite things at the camp was "flying through the air on a zip line."
"Every kid fighting a scary disease like cancer should have a week like I had," he said.
This wasn't the first time that he gave a speech about Hole in the Wall.
Aaron was featured in a fund-raising documentary about The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. In addition to being interviewed at the camp, a film crew followed him on his first day back at Conard in the fall of 2006.
"The film was previewed at Tony Bennett's 80th birthday party at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. They flew our family out to California to see it," said Jill Baral.
After the film ended, Aaron walked across the stage and introduced Paul Newman.
"The audience went wild," she said.
Paul Newman was "pretty cool," said Aaron.
Joyce Lemega of West Hartford, who attended the local fundraiser, said Newman should get a lot of credit for his charitable work.
"So many people use celebrity for things that aren't so good," she said. "He's to be commended for using his celebrity to help others. I buy his products because of where the money goes."
There are programs at The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp year round, including programs for families and siblings of kids with cancer.
Jill Baral said she had never met Barall-Matt before, and she was amazed that so many people would go out of their way to help kids they had never met.
She said her son's battle with cancer isn't over.
The day after the fundraiser, Aaron was supposed to have surgery to replace his shoulder. Unfortunately, some of the treatments for his cancer have caused his shoulder to collapse as the result of avascular necrosis.
When he had blood tests, the surgery was cancelled because Aaron's liver showed signs of toxicity from the chemotherapy, said Jill Baral.
"Aaron finishes his chemotherapy on New Year's Eve, so that's very exciting for us, but we need to wait and see how his liver recovers. Then once it's safe for surgery, he'll need a new shoulder, so hopefully that will be in May or June," she said.
Aaron is scheduled for his last spinal tap for his chemotherapy treatments on Dec. 20.
Ben said that Hole in the Wall helped him put his cancer in perspective.
"It showed me how blessed I am for what my diagnosis is, because I don't have it so bad compared to some other kids," said Ben.