Youngster raises $80,000 for cancer research with lemonade stand. Photo by NBCNEWS.com (screen capture)

As a youngster of 5, Max Igoe learned about breast cancer and grief when the disease took the life of his mother’s best friend. As a way of dealing with the loss, the La Habra, CA tike found an outlet for his pain in a lemonade stand.

When asked why he chose that, Max, now 14, says it was the first idea that came to him.

His mother, Nicki Igoe, said her son was aware that that her friend was very sick with something called cancer. The woman had battled the disease for the better part of ten years before losing the fight.

Max wanted to set up the lemonade stand to raise money for breast cancer research, a noble thought. His mother tried explaining that people just didn’t do that anymore. She tried to explain that driveways lemonade stands were not as popular as they had once been but she didn’t’ want to stifle his generosity or hurt his feelings. He was still grieving the loss of his friend, Beth Rorman, and wanted to do something meaningful.

Instead, they set up a table and decorated it with homemade signs. She made juice and let Max go to work. This past weekend Max set up his stand for the ninth consecutive year.  He and his mom have mixed up hundreds of gallons of pink lemonade in the name of cancer research fund raising, held raffles and casino night fundraisers and spent days of painstaking labor working on their efforts.

Max never thought he would raise more than $80,000 will all of his hard work but he is delighted at the results. What is his goal now? He wants to raise $1 million and find a cure.

After the hard work of each sale is behind him, Nicki always asks if he thinks he’ll want to do it again. The answer is always a resounding ‘Yes!’

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