5-Year-Old Girl Raises $25,000 To Help Find Medical Cure For Brother

A five-year-old Toronto girl’s sweet fundraiser has generated plenty of buzz and a new research grant to help find a medical cure for her ailing brother.

“It’s going really good,” Na'ama Uzan said in a video posted Sunday. “I’m hoping we make a hundred dollars [today].”

It turned out to be a humble projection. Later in the day, she learned a California couple had donated $20,000 to set up a research grant in her name. Since she started fundraising in 2013, Na'ama has raised $25,000 toward finding a cure for Angelman Syndrome, a neurological disorder that affects her older brother.

David Low and his partner Steve told CTV News they were inspired to do their own fundraising after learning about Na’ama’s dedication to funding a cure. Their own son was diagnosed with the incurable disability six months earlier.

“My brother, Nadav, has Angelman Syndrome, so we’re trying to raise money for a cure so he won’t have it anymore,” she told CBC News in an interview last year.

Na’ama learns a research grant was opened in her name after a donation was made in her honour Sunday.

Diagnosed at two, Nadav has had to deal with a string of developmental problems that affect his speech and sleep, according to The Canadian Jewish News. Nadav, now 7, is also epileptic and prone to seizures, requiring constant care.

“She wanted to do something,” her dad David Uzan explained to Metro News. “When she realized that lemonade stands, which would normally be for fun, could be a source of helping find a cure, she really just stepped up and really took off with it."

Fuelled by the weekend’s sunny weather, the “budding philanthropist” set up one of her three portable lemonade stands outside her family’s Toronto house.

But even during the thick of winter, Na’ama has braved the cold to sell cups of hot chocolate and muffins to passers-by.

Every little bit of generosity strengthens her resolve to help her brother, her mom told Parents Canada.

“She’s just so concerned for him and she just wants the best for him,” she said.

Photo credit: Facebook