A La Habra third-grader keeps selling lemonade toward his goal of raising $1 million for breast cancer research.

By DEEPA  BHARATHTHE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LA HABRA – "Two cups coming right up." The 8-year-old boy with eager, blue eyes piped up from behind the 15-gallon thermos as he poured more pink lemonade into white plastic cups.Max Igoe's zeal to raise $1 million for breast cancer research through his lemonade stands may be quixotic, noble and touching. But in the mind of this third-grader, it's entirely possible."I thought of a million dollars because it's a big number," he said, working his stand Sunday outside the Green Hills Baptist Church.Max started thinking about the tragedy of breast cancer after he watched Elizabeth Rorman, his mother's best friend, fight the disease for seven years. She died two years ago at age 37.Max would insist on accompanying his mother, Nicki Igoe, to the hospital, his father Mike Igoe said.On a table in the lemonade stand is a picture of Rorman with her hand around Max.

Max had his first lemonade stand in 2004, soon after his "Auntie Beth" died. He had one the next year. He put up his stand again in August.This time he had back-to-back stands on Saturday and Sunday.

How close is Max to the $1 million mark? He has raised a little over $15,000, Nicki Igoe said.On Oct. 8, Max and his parents will participate in the City of Hope's Walk for Hope in Duarte.She hopes Max and his Web site, www.maxslemonadestand.com, will catch the eye of a corporate giant or a philanthropist. On Sunday, business was brisk as churchgoers and passers-by stopped to pick up lemonade and chocolate-chip cookies.Greg Frickey stopped his motorcycle as he saw Max and some of his friends hold up signs. "You get thirsty when you're on the road," he said, with a laugh. "And it's for a good cause." Some motorists stopped, handed money out their car windows and drove away. Others stopped and congratulated Max. A few of the visitors were survivors themselves, and others stopped at the stand because they had lost loved ones to the disease.Max's generosity and enthusiasm has touched many, including his own family."Max is my hero," his father said. "He keeps me going."For Max, who rose at the crack of dawn this weekend to get his lemonade ready, it's all fun. He intends to keep going until he achieves his goal of $1 million.