Stittsville boy opens lemonade stand to raise money for friend with rare disease

A Stittsville boy has set up a lemonade stand to help raise money for his 7-year-old friend who was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease. CTV’s Shaun Vardon re

Jack Laidlaw is your typical 7-year-old.

Friends, family and hockey keep him very busy, but in December 2023, Jack was diagnosed with a rare genetic disease affecting less than .01 percent of the population.

It’s called Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia type 4 or SPG4. Doctors say within two years, he may be in a wheelchair and currently there is no cure or treatments to stop the disease from progressing.

There is hope that new experimental gene therapies could help, but they are very expensive to develop. His family has been spearheading fundraisers to help meet the $3 million dollar of one experimental treatment and the community has stepped up in many different ways.

When Jack’s friend and hockey teammate Liam Liu found out Jack needed help, he decided he had to do something, so he came up with a plan to set up a lemonade stand near his home in Stittsville.

After receiving the green light from his parents, Liu has been at it all week and will be there every day from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. until May 16. Located at the corner at Adamson Crescent and Westridge Drive, he has already raised hundreds of dollars to help his friend.

“He has SPG4, so I want to raise money. We are good friends,” Liu said. “It makes me feel good when they donate, they tell us to keep the change. It’s a good thing.”

• SPG4 Cure Fundraiser on Facebook

For Jack’s parents, hope for a cure or even a treatment keeps them going. His mother Anna Laidlaw is emotional when she sees just how many in the community want to help.

“It’s really, really special to see Jack’s friend plan this all on his own. We did not even have to ask for help and we found out through his parents that Liam was making this lemonade stand,” Laidlaw said. “It just makes your heart full and makes us feel very thankful for having good friends and Jack’s good friends.”

Jack is grateful for good friends. He was out helping Liam on Wednesday and was impressed by how many people stopped to get a glass of lemonade.

“I feel like he is a really good friend and he’s really trying to help me raise my cure.”

Jack’s parents Richard and Anna Laidlaw have organized “Jacks Gala Reaching for The Stars” on May 24. The fundraiser will have an outer space theme, as Jack dreams of one day walking on Mars. The first Canadian into space, Marc Garneau will be a special guest all to support Jack.