Lemonade stand nets $10,000

Andrew Edwards

At 4 years old, Costa Mesa’s John Taggart has been battling cancer

for about half his life.

With help from friends and members of the Newport Beach Fire

Department, John’s family enlisted Fashion Island shoppers to aid

John and other children in their fight against cancer Sunday. The

family set up a lemonade stand at the shopping center, and volunteers

passed out lemonade and cookies as they collected more than $10,000

in donations to help out young cancer patients.

“I’m so excited, that’s great,” John’s mother, Tamara Taggart,

said.

The money collected Sunday is set to be passed on to Alex’s

Lemonade Stand, which has raised more than $1.5 million for cancer

research as of this January. The organization traces its origins to

the efforts of Alexandra “Alex” Scott, a child cancer patient who

started her own lemonade stand at the age of 4 to raise money for the

Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Alexandra passed away in

August at 8 years of age in her Pennsylvania home.

The Fashion Island event was one of several Alex’s Lemonade Stand

fundraisers planned across the country for the weekend.

John has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a tumor which is the

same form of cancer that Alexandra had. In two years of fighting, the

cancer has reoccurred twice and John has recovered from kidney

failure and cardiac arrest. The boy’s father, Kelly Taggart, works as

a firefighter in South Los Angeles and calls his son the toughest

person he knows.

“He’s tougher than you or I ever will be,” Kelly Taggart said.

“He’s never cried. Hardly even winces when they give him injections.”

In February, John underwent intense chemotherapy treatment and a

transplant of his own stem cells, Kelly Taggart said. The family is

currently faced with the tough choice of whether to subject their son

to radiation therapy.

While Newport Beach firefighters filled bright yellow balloons for

children Sunday, John, who enjoys wrestling, hockey and riding his

scooter, drank a cool glass of lemonade while his 7-year-old sister,

Hayley, helped pass out drinks and cookies.

“I think the lemonade stand is cool,” Hayley said. “It’s for

cancer research and lots of people are giving us a lot of money.”

Tamara Taggart and the family’s friend with the Newport Beach Fire

Department, fire paramedic Ty Lunde both graduated from Newport

Harbor High School.

Lunde’s 6-year-old daughter Madelynne helped pass out lemonade

while her father and other firefighters volunteered.

“The fire department is a family and we just support the outlying

community,” Lunde said.

More information about Alex’s Lemonade Stand is available at

https://www.alexs lemonade.com.