Burbank girl with tumor, 6, raises more than $1,500 for cancer research

Aleyna Doche stood behind jugs of pink and yellow lemonade on Saturday, filling cups for more than 150 friends, family and passersby all afternoon.

In June, the 6-year-old was diagnosed with Wilms tumor, a form of pediatric kidney cancer.

Her goal was to raise $300 in lemonade sales to donate to pediatric cancer research.

By the end of the day, Aleyna had collected more than $1,500. And checks are still coming in.

“I can’t believe how much lemonade we sold,” Aleyna wrote on her blog, WeAllLoveAleyna.com. “I can’t believe we pulled this off.”

Patrons hailed from as far as Orange County and Long Beach for a cup of cold lemonade.

Aleyna will donate all proceeds to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a pediatric cancer research charity that’s raised more than $55 million since it was founded in 2000.

Aleyna thanked her best friend, Phoebe Wise, 6, and neighbor, Megan Labus, 13, who helped set up and decorate posters for the sale. Megan was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor about five years ago and has coached Aleyna through treatment, said Aleyna’s mom, Roxanne Demers.

“Megan kind of served as a big sister to Aleyna,” she said.

Aleyna is scheduled to finish treatment in November.

“Hopefully, from that point forward, we can call her a cancer survivor,” Demers said, adding that she and her daughter hope to turn the sale into an annual event.

“I’m just very proud of my daughter,” she added.

-- Alene Tchekmedyian, Times Community News

Follow Alene Tchekmedyian on Google+ and on Twitter: @atchek