Brantford boy, 10, aims to raise $10,000 for children’s hospital
Less than 90 minutes into a full-day shift at his front yard lemonade stand on Saturday, Cash Foran had already raked in about $120.
His tin money box was filling up not with quarters and dimes, but five and 10-dollar bills, and piles of loonies and toonies – all of it going to support McMaster Children’s Hospital.
Not content with having helped raise $12,000 for the cause over the past six years through MacKids Walk and Wheel, a fundraiser held along the Hamilton Waterfront in June, 10-year-old Cash is determined to do more.
“On the drive home from Walk and Wheel, he said he’d like to raise $10,000 this year,” said Cash’s mom Tracy Foran. “When we asked him how he thought he could do that, he said, ‘I think we need to start now.’”
So, Tracy, her husband Quentin Foran, and Cash spent Friday night mixing vats of lemonade and making signs for the front of their Brantwood Park Road home. Cash was on duty from 10 to 3.
The family has a charity yard sale planned for Aug. 20 at 8 am, with all the proceeds going to the children’s hospital. They’re also contemplating bottle drives and other events.
Cash doesn’t remember, but his parents know the treatment he received at MacKids as a baby, born 11 weeks early, saved his life.
Tracy’s ultrasound at 28 weeks of pregnancy indicated some kind of resistance in blood flow that meant the baby wasn’t getting enough nutrients.
“They tried to keep him in there as long as possible,” said Tracy. “They told me every hour mattered.”
At 29 weeks and one day gestation, Cash was born. He was unable to breathe on his own, needed several blood and platelet transfusions. He had surgery for a hernia and suffered spontaneous broken ribs because he was so fragile. He weighed just two-and-a-half pounds.
“He had to do the last three months of growing on the outside,” said Tracy. “It was scary but I had faith in the people working on him. They reassured me he was strong. No one gave us any reason to feel he wouldn’t come through it.”
Soon to enter Grade 5 at Ste. Marguerite Bourgeoys School, Cash is healthy and active. He loves to play drums, swim and play video games. And he’s eager to help others.
“I want him to know where he came from, and what was done to help him,” said Tracy. “I want him to be grateful for the start he got.”