PHOENIX (NBC, KYMA/KECY) – An Arizona man and his son are raising funds for a kidney transplant with help of proceeds from a lemonade stand.
Nine-year-old Forest Gomez was out selling lemonade this weekend.
“This is for my dad’s kidney transplant,” Forest shared.
His father, 29-year-old Jorge Gomez, is in need of a new kidney.
“We were laying down one night, and he asked me if he sold all his toys, would it be enough for my transplant? And I told him that he didn’t have to do that, but we can figure something out to raise money. So, he’s always wanted to do a lemonade stand, so he’s like, ‘What about if we do a lemonade stand?’ So that’s how he came up with the whole…like, let’s do it.”
Jorge Gomez
Jorge does dialysis three times a week and says due to his immigration status, he has to find a living donor and pay for the transplant surgery himself.
“Surgery is $450,000…If I can’t find a live donor, it’s little over a million dollars,” Jorge shared.
So Jorge is painting homes before dialysis to raise the money, hoping to give his son hope.
“I was depressed, and I was just looking around, and my son came to me and we were talking, and they just click, click, like, ‘What am I doing? I need to get out of bed. I needed…I need to do something with my life, because he’s watching me, and he’s watching me give up,’ so he’s looking up to me. So now I get up every morning for him. Every day is for him.”
Jorge Gomez
His sister, Maria, in awe of her brother’s strength, hoping to raise enough money to help her brother get the treatment he needs.
“Regardless his condition, he still gets up to go to work and provide for his son, and on top of that, to save money for his kidney transplant…I strongly believe that all this process, process is going through is because God is teaching us that we’re not alone. God is teaching us that he’s he’s gonna heal him, and he’s not gonna just let him die.”
Maria, Jorge Gomez’s sister