When Life Gives You Lemons

When life gives you lemons, you don’t just make lemonade. You make a lemonade stand and you raise money for what you believe in. At least, if you’re Zoe Grall you do. Zoe was born with myelomeningocele and hydrocephalous, more commonly known as the most severe form of Spina Bifida. Zoe, now age 9 and in 4th grade, has had 16 surgeries to date. The first one to close the hole in her back was on day 2 of life outside the womb and the most recent was in December of 2018. Medically speaking today, Zoe is not expected to ever walk and will use a wheelchair her whole life and has since she was 18 months old. But to know Zoe is to know limiting her is a mistake. Zoe has played wheelchair basketball, been a cheerleader, actively swims and fully expects to medal in a future Paralympic Games, but her real love is horses. Zoe has been in hippotherapy (horseback physical therapy) for 6 years and the strides she has made are nothing short of amazing. Hippotherapy is not mainstream in any way and even hospitals like Scottish Rite view it as supplemental. But we have seen the results. The strength, the confidence, the neurons in her brain that fire as a result of being on the back of a horse and feeling in her hips the natural movements that she otherwise would not has opened Zoe’s cognitive and physical skills to place most thought she’d never achieve.

               So how did When Life Give You Lemons Start? When a sweet little girl watched a Barbie episode on TV and they had a lemonade stand, she had to have one. Through her friends in the neighborhood, Zoe raised roughly $100. When we asked what she wanted to do with the money, we were taken aback when she asked to buy carrots for her favorite horse, “Crunchie.” We bought some carrots and took the rest of the money to her stables and from there an idea was formed. Her riding stable loved the idea and put on second lemonade stand for North Texas Giving Day, where Zoe helped raise over $15,000 for her stable. But that didn’t help us pay for the riding that insurance deemed uncoverable. So next year, Zoe put on her own lemonade stand to raise money for her tuition. With the help of friends, corporate sponsors, and some pretty sweet media coverage, Zoe’s lemonade stand was a success!

               This is where you come in.  We expect upwards of 500 people to come out and support When Life Gives You Lemons this year. Any amount that can be donated is that much more Zoe can raise. Zoe’s goal this year is to raise her tuition, and enough to gift a tuition to another boy or girl that needs this empowering service as well. We thank you in advance for your consideration.

 In the past, friends near and far have wanted to support by writing a check. Please make the checks payable to "Zoe Grall Supplemental Needs Trust."