WELLINGTON, Colo. — 7-year-old Zander has always dreamed of visiting LEGOLAND. However, a recent diagnosis has put time into perspective.
“Two days before Christmas of 2021, he had been diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor that is inoperable,” Nichole Guarrillo, Zander's mom, told Denver7 in July. “He was doing the chemotherapy through a port and one of the MRI’s showed that the tumor is actually growing instead of shrinking. So they pulled him off of that and he is now doing an oral medication that is usually given to skin cancer patients. But he has shown that it's going really really well for him. Every day we have is a blessing.”
The family decided to set up a lemonade stand outside of their Wellington home during the Fourth of July weekend in order to raise enough money for the trip. Weather put a damper on their mission, and the family fell short of their goal. Thankfully, our Denver7 Gives viewers stepped in to help.
Denver7 | Gives
Wellington boy holds lemonade stand to raise money for Legoland trip
Generous donors gave thousands of dollars to help the family. One anonymous donor gave $3,400 to cover trip expensives.
It gets even better. LEGOLAND donated six two-day passes to the California park. They also sent Zander a LEGO set and stuffed toy.
The donations surpassed the family's goal. Denver7 Gives will use the remaining funds to pay the family's rent for a few months.
“I don’t even know. I have no words," Nichole said. "It’s very generous — both parties doing this for us."
The trip is planned for Christmastime. Until then, Zander will be busy building his LEGOLAND LEGO set.
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