An eight-year-old girl from Clarksville, Tennessee, has raised thousands of dollars by opening a lemonade stand for her little brother, who has severe medical issues.
Two years ago, Makenzy Evan’s brother, Gannon, was diagnosed with cerebral cavernous venous malformation, a condition that gives him lesions on his brain that could rupture at any moment, WKRN reported. As a result, Gannon experiences daily seizures.
In May of this year, doctors told the Evans family that Gannon now has a ten-millimeter tumor on the top of his brain stem.
After going to five different pediatric neurosurgeons at five different hospitals, all doctors said it would be too risky to perform a procedure to remove it.
Thankfully, the Evans family found a clinical trial that uses radiation therapy at Boston Children’s hospital, but it would come at a large expense.
While the family’s insurance has agreed to cover a large portion of the expenses, the family still had to raise $22,000.
Makenzy, who wanted to help her younger brother and her parents with the expenses, decided to open up a lemonade stand, and the results have been very successful.
After holding 15 lemonade stands, Makenzy has raised over $10,000 for her little brother.
When asked why she was doing this for Gannon, she told WKRN that older sisters have “big responsibilities.”
“Kind of a lot, because I have to help Mommy and Daddy sometimes when they really need it. And I need to help my brother when he is really sick and hurt,” Makenzy said.
The family has also raised an additional $6,000 as of Sunday through a GoFundMe page organized by Gannon’s family.
This is not the first time an older sibling has helped their younger sibling with medical conditions by opening a lemonade stand.
In August 2020, an Idaho raised over a thousand dollars for his little sister, who was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy, Breitbart News highlighted.
You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.