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Lemonade stand raises Crystal Gala funds

Four Abbotsford girls collected donations on behalf of a friend battling cancer
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(Back row

Four Abbotsford girls who recently set up a lemonade stand to raise funds on behalf of a friend battling cancer have donated the money to the Crystal Gala Foundation.

Kaitlin MacDonald and Rachel Heppner, age 11, and their younger sisters, Frances MacDonald and Megan Heppner, age nine, set up the stand at the end of the MacDonald family’s driveway on Boxwood Court.

They raised slightly more than $120, which was donated on Aug. 19 to members of the Crystal Gala Foundation during a presentation at Abbotsford Regional Hospital (ARH).

The girls raised the funds on behalf of Kaitlin’s friend Brooke Loewen, 12, who was in BC Children’s Hospital over the summer going through her second battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

She was first diagnosed last year and went into remission after treatment during the summer of 2013.

The condition returned this spring, and Brooke began another three months of treatment. She was discharged from the hospital on Aug. 13, and it appears she is back in remission.

Brooke and her mom were in attendance when the funds from the lemonade stand were donated to the Crystal Gala Foundation.

The foundation, which holds a gala event every October in Abbotsford, raises funds for breast cancer research.

To date, more than $1.8 million has been raised, resulting in two state-of-the-art digital mammography machines being donated to AHR, including one in the Crystal Gala Breast Health Unit.

This year's Crystal Gala takes place on Oct. 18 at the Ramada Plaza and Conference Centre. For more information, visit crystalgala.ca.