Five-Year Old Raises Money For His Own Cancer Treatment

Just the mention of Cancer sends shivers down most people's spines - So you can only imagine what it must have done to five-year old Aidan Reed's family when on September 17th, 2010, he was diagnosed with leukemia or cancer of the white blood cells.

The good news was that it was 90% curable, but it did mean months of chemotherapy and numerous painful spinal taps for this active young boy, who spent his day either dressing up in costumes, or drawing giant monsters.

It also meant sky-high hospital bills, and while Aidan's dad, Wiley, had good medical insurance, the family did have to come up with the copayments, which were not cheap. Just as they were contemplating selling their family home, Aiden's aunt, frustrated because she lived too far to help on a daily basis, came up with a brilliant idea - To raise money by selling good quality prints of Aidan's monster sketches.

So, she set up an account on Etsy, a website that allows small artisans to sell their wares directly to people all over the world. Her goal was to sell 60, which happened to be her lucky number - To her surprise, she exceeded that goal by far, within just the first week and, the orders kept coming, some from as far away as Japan and Brazil. Within a few months, she had sold over 2,500 monster prints for $12USD a piece, accumulating over $30,000 USD - More than enough money to pay for all the incidental costs associated with Aidan's cancer treatment.

Even better news, is that the little Kansas City resident is home again, and on a rapid road to recovery. Though, he will have to undergo further treatment, the doctors believe that worst is over. The only bad news? Aidan's prints are no longer available for purchase. However, his parents have promised to sell some original monster drawings in the near future - So, his fans will just have to be a little patient. To read more about this amazing young boy, go to his blog - aidforaidan.wordpress.com.

Resources: huffingtonpost.com, kcsr.org, aidforaiden.wordpress.com