Utah girls sell lemonade to honor late sister, aid organ donation awareness

WEST JORDAN, Utah — It’s a refreshing summer sight: two young girls selling lemonade under the shade of a maple tree in the front yard of their Utah home.

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But Myleigh Madsen, 9, and her sister, Makayla Madsen, 7, are not just quenching thirsts. They are raising money in front of their West Jordan home to honor their late sister, who died last year while waiting for a new heart and kidney transplant, and to raise awareness about organ donations, The Salt Lake City Tribune reported.

Makenzie Madsen was 14 when she died July 13, 2020, from congenital heart failure. She was diagnosed with two heart defects when she was 14 months old, The Washington Post reported. Three months later Makenzie received a heart transplant, according to ABC News. In 2019, her heart and kidneys began to shut down and she was taken to an area hospital, where she went into cardiac arrest, the network reported.

Makenzie died after spending more than 300 days in the hospital for a heart and kidney transplant that never came, the Tribune reported.

“She loved life and was a strong advocate for organ donation,” according to Makenzie’s obituary. “If anyone did something she didn’t approve of they would quickly know because of an eye-roll and a little sass.”

The girl known as “Mak ‘n’ Cheese” used to sell snow cones, cookies and even banana cream pies in her front yard for four summers, the Tribune reported.

Before her last birthday, Makenzie’s family members bought her a $200 snow-cone maker, the Post reported. But she never got to use it.

This summer, Makenzie’s younger sisters have taken over the sidewalk business in her memory, according to the Tribune. For every bit of change they earn, the girls are donating it to help children avoid their sister’s fate.

“We’re doing this so kids who need hearts, we can help them get it,” Myleigh told the Tribune.

“I just really miss her,” Makayla told the Tribune. “We used to make slime together. It was teal. That was her favorite color.”

The girls picked teal as the shade for the lemonade stand, and more somberly, it is the same color of the casket that Makenzie was buried in.

Makenzie is never far from her sisters’ thoughts, especially as they pour cups of lemonade. There is a photo of a smiling Makenzie that beams toward the customers.

The girls’ parents are beaming with pride over the girls’ quest.

“Words can’t describe how proud I am of these girls and their willingness to do this,” Tyler Madsen, told KSL. “Then to donate all of the money to DonorConnect is just amazing.”

“It’s humbling to see that my girls understand how important it is,” Monica Madsen told the Post. “And they don’t want somebody else to have to lose someone they love.”

DonorConnect is a nonprofit that helps obtain organs for transplants in Utah and the West, the Tribune reported. Currently, there are 10 children in Utah waiting for a heart, the newspaper reported. At least one child under the age of 17 has been on the waiting list for more than five years, according to Dixie Madsen, the nonprofit’s spokesperson.

“There’s just not enough organs for everyone who needs one,” Dixie Madsen told the Tribune. “And that’s often especially the case for kids.”

The Madsen family has raised about $6,000 so far, ABC News reported.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, around 17 people die each day while waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S. In June 2020, the wait time for a transplant was three to five years, ABC News reported. As of last month, the number of people on the waitlist for a heart is 3,601. For a kidney, 90,567 are waiting, the network reported.

After a recent Saturday afternoon, Myleigh and Makayla tried to count how much they had raised, but their mother had to help them out, the Tribune reported.

Some people donated $20 and even $50 for the cause, according to the newspaper.

“We got $200 from our uncle,” Myleigh said. “We’re going to raise billions for Kenzie.”

“Yeah, something like that,” Monica Madsen laughed.

The family will stop selling lemonade when summer kicks into full gear, but they plan to keep selling every year.

“We’ve just tried to keep her spirit alive,” Monica Madsen told ABC News. “She’s up there cheering them on and helping them out and rallying people to go see the stand.”

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