Nine-year-old Mia helping to make breast cancer a thing of the past – one cup of lemonade at a time

By KATHRYN FRASER

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Five years ago, Vanesa Gomez was diagnosed with Stage 4 Breast Cancer and since then has joined CIBC's Run for the Cure every year in Vaughan with her team Beauty and the Breast. 

This year Gomez's daughter Mia Gomez, who will soon be nine-years-old, has decided she wants to find her own way to bring awareness to Breast Cancer and help raise funds to search for a cure. 

Mia approached her father earlier this year with a passionate explanation that she wanted to help get involved and start her own fundraising initiative. 

Mia's father helped her come up with the idea of having a lemonade stand where she could sell lemonade to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. 

“My mom has cancer and I want to help find a cure for cancer,” says Mia. “We started getting prepared for the run and I wanted to help this year and raise money and give all the money I collect to charity”. 

The plans to build the lemonade initiative were then put into motion and Mia's father visited the local Home Depot where he asked a staff member, who turned out to be the store manager, for help on specific tools and began to explain the plan to him. 

Heart warmed by this story, the store manager decided to lend a hand and generously donated a gift card to Gomez and her family to cover the cost of supplies needed for the stand.

This support was only the beginning, as the decision was made to move the location of the lemonade stand from Gomez's driveway to the Bolton Fortinos and Coffee Time, who have given Gomez the opportunity to sell her lemonade in front of their stores. 

With all this support and hard work Mia's Lemonade for the Cure will officially run on September 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Fortinos Bolton entrance and on September 26 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Coffee Time. 

100 per cent of the proceeds will go to the Canadian Cancer Society's Run for the Cure and the funds will go to specifically helping those with Breast Cancer. 

To Mia, it is important to help raise funds to find a cure. 

“I want to really help find a cure for cancer, so people won't get sick anymore,” says Mia. 

Gomez is proud to see her daughter wanting to not only help her mom but also so many others that also have breast cancer. 

“It makes me really proud of her, to see that not only is it because it's her mom that has it, she sees how this can be helping everyone that has breast cancer. Her mind isn't like, how can I just help my mom?” says Gomez. “She could have just drawn me a picture, made me a present, or she could have asked my husband, ‘Can we go buy her a present?' My husband would have said, ‘Yes, let's go buy your mom a present,' but that wasn't her idea. Her idea was, how can I help my mom make a difference? And that was on her own little heart as an eight-year-old, and it made me so proud.” 

Both Vanesa and Mia are thankful for all the support the community has shown and that by even just sharing the story has garnered more support than they would have thought. 

“We're so appreciative of the community. This started actually just by accident of my husband talking to the right person, about asking for help, and it ended up being the manager, and just knowing how wonderful the community is to help and support,” says Gomez. “Mia's school, St. John Paul's parent council has also posted something on Instagram so that the whole school community can come out and support Mia. It's just beautiful to see how the community shows up. For us, for her, and for everybody.” 

Those looking to support can come out and buy some lemonade from Mia and help bring the Canadian Cancer Society one step closer to a world without Breast Cancer.