On November 5, 2004, our world was turned upside down as the doctors told us that our eleven-month old daughter, Grace, had cancer. She was diagnosed with a stage III Wilm’s Tumor and underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. We are blessed with wonderful family and friends who supported us through this ordeal, as well as talented and compassionate doctors, nurses and staff at the Georgetown University Hospital, who helped Grace and our family. Grace is now a happy and healthy 5-year-old little girl who is about to graduate from kindergarten next week! She has been cancer-free for four years, and anyone who meets her today is shocked to hear that she was ever sick.

In the summer of 2006, our older daughter, Abby, learned about Alex Scott and Alex’s Lemonade Stand. Abby had just turned 5 at the time and told us that she wanted to host an Alex’s Lemonade Stand so she could help other kids like Grace. With the help of some friends, we set up our first stand in the summer of 2007 on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The girls raised $550 in one day! In the summer of 2008, Abby, Grace & their friends hosted three more stands and raised a total of about $2,000 from those stands. They have so much fun hosting the stands and telling all of the customers about Alex Scott’s story and about Grace being a survivor. They love showing off Grace’s scar across her belly!

This past Saturday, May 16, 2009, we hosted our fifth stand and have been touched by the outpouring of support from our friends and community. Over the winter, some friends thought it would be great to build us a proper lemonade stand (instead of us using a folding table). So they solicited donations from local organizations and businesses. The stand they built for us is a child’s dream lemonade stand! Knowing that we have such support from the community helps us and the kids keep up the energy when they get tired during the day. Having the new lemonade stand drew more attention for the girls and this great cause. The children raised more than $1,000 from this stand. We are so proud of Abby, Grace and all of their friends who helped out (Karli, Leo, Maeve, Elena and Isabelle).

What also made the stand on May 16th very special was that Alex’s aunt, uncle and cousin were in Rehoboth for the weekend and happened upon our stand! They introduced themselves and posed for pictures with us and our stand. It was a very special moment for Abby, Grace and Karli, who were all working very hard at the stand that day.

Thank you to Joe Maltese and Rich Doyle at Atlantic Cabinetry Corporation, who built the stand and Tom Benton painted the stand; UNICO Rehoboth Area Chapter (Italian-American group), who supplied the cost of the materials for the stand; the Sherwin-Williams Company, who donated the paint and painting supplies; Joe & Bernie Polinski, who came up with the idea and did all of the design and construction management for the project; and Richard Latham and Barbara Crowl, who painted the custom murals and lettering for the stand. We also want to thank the Rehoboth Toy & Kite Store and Go Fish Restaurant for allowing us to host our stands in front of your businesses.

- Julie Bucklin, Grace’s mom