Antonio Pebworth lost much of his toddler years to chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries and a stem-cell transplant – all treatment for the cancer he was diagnosed with when he was only 2.
Doctors gave him only a 25 percent chance of survival.
Fortunately, the doctors were wrong, and Antonio’s treatment has been successful so far. It has been almost five years and his cancer hasn’t returned.
He is now 7 and a second grader at Cascade Elementary School in Renton.
His year and a half battling stage four neuroblastoma (cancer of the sympathetic nervous system) is behind him.
“He’s been doing great,” says Antonio’s mom Olivia Gonzales. “He’s in second grade, he plays baseball, he’s a pretty normal 7-year-old.”
Gonzales wants the same normal life for other victims of childhood cancer. That’s why she’s throwing a big fundraising party Saturday for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit for childhood cancer research.
The foundation got its start in 2000 with a lemonade stand run by then 4-year-old Alexandra (Alex) Scott. Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma just before her first birthday, and died from it at age 8. She started her lemonade stand to help her doctors raise money for cancer research.
More than 2,000 Alex’s Lemonade Stands will be held across the country during this year’s Sixth Annual Lemonade Days June 12-14.
Antonio’s Alex’s Lemonade Stand is one of the thousands of stands. The all-day party will include clowns, a dunk tank, a bounce house, crafts, face painting, free drawings, a Puget Sound Blood Center donation station, and, of course, a lemonade stand.
Antonio’s mom wants to raise $5,000 at the donation-based party. All of the money raised will go directly to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
This is the third Alex’s Lemonade Stand Gonzales has put on. She does it to bring awareness to childhood cancer.
“It’s something people don’t talk about,” she says. “I never thought about it ‘til my child got sick.”
She also puts on the event to show the Renton community a good time.
“I just hope everybody comes out and has fun,” she says.
Alex’s Lemonade Stand
Antonio’s Alex’s Lemonade Stand is Saturday noon-5 p.m. at Cascade Vista Shopping Center, 17060 116th Ave. S.E. All money raised at the donation-based day of fun goes to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit for childhood cancer.
