'Lemonade for Lydia' Takes Off

The last two years have been very difficult ones for the family of Little Harbour School fourth grader Lydia Valdez, a 9-year-old girl who is battling a rare form of cancer.

Along the way teachers and students at her school have reached out to her and her mom, Paula Skelley, to help in whatever ways they can. On Monday, a new fund-raising effort, "Lemonade for Lydia," was launched around the city and 24 hours later thousands of dollars have poured into a special fundraising page, "Hope for Lydia," as a result. On Tuesday morning, more than $13,100 was raised to give Lydia and her family financial support and some of those donations were made by people from different parts of the country.

Dan Freund, a digital medial professional who lives in Portsmouth, was one of many people who noticed the "Lemonade for Lydia" stands that popped up around the city on Monday when the city celebrated Veterans Day and school kids were off. He and many other Portmouth residents tweeted and posted messages and photos on Facebook about the effort.

The lemonade stands had red balloons and were staffed with several community volunteers who sold lemonade and baked goods as seen on a special "Lemonade for Lydia" Facebook page.

Portsmouth Patch first wrote about Valdez in May when she was named a Pedal Partner of the 33^rd annual Pan-Massachusetts Challenge. Lydia and her mom were also honored by the Boston Red Sox on May 19 in a pre-game ceremony.

Skelley told Portsmouth Patch in May that her daughter was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancerous tumor that develops in her muscle cells.