Avery Mitchell-Hicks is one special nine-year-old.
Despite having a litany of medical issues, Avery has been doing nothing but thinking of others since the day summer started and school was out.
The nine-year-old Cobourg youth is a regular patient at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto suffering from severe asthma.
In 2023 he spent a month in the Intensive Care Unit after he was not able to get the amount of oxygen he needed to breath on his own.
It was at that time he was diagnosed with severe asthma, a skin condition and at least 10 different allergies including, grass, trees, leaves, hay, dust etc.
Since then, Avery has to attend Sick Kids every three months to do a pulmonary function test.
At this stage, he hasn’t passed any because his lungs are too weak.
Adding to the illnesses, Avery has sleep apnea and stops breathing 22 times in one hour.
Avery’s mom, Stephanie said they see a lot of families at Sick Kids that are worse, and her son decided on his own to try and give back and help them.
“It’s scary. I can only imagine what the other families who are so much sicker are feeling because my heart stops every single time my son’s asthma gets bad.”
“He has made it his mission to sell as much lemonade as he can this summer and is donating all the money to Sick Kids.”
Stephanie said her son even has paid for all the items that go with the lemonade out of his allowance.
Today’s Northumberland spoke briefly to Avery in between customers on Canada Day.
“I want them to get better equipment for different things. So kids that have problems with their bodies – they can help them.”
While thousands of people enjoyed Canada Day in downtown Cobourg, Avery took care of his customers on Elgin Street East.
“I’m super proud of him,” said his mom.
The fundraising started on June 29, and Avery and his brother can usually be found at the lemonade stand located on Elgin Street East, just east of D’Arcy Street on the south side.
With the help from the community, Avery has raised over $400 since summer started with $320 on one day.
Even when it started raining, Avery was hesitant to go inside – until it started pouring.
Avery said his older brother help picked the four flavours including pink lemonade, lime-lemon, blue-razz and tornado with pink being the best seller.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
