Pupils’ lemonade stands raise $1,100 to fight 3rd-grader’s rare disease

More than 60 students opened lemonade stands Monday outside Springbrook Elementary School in Irvine, raising more than $1,100 for research of a rare skin disease that a fellow student contracted.

Springbrook third-grader Mikey Fullmer has epidermolysis bullosa, and students from Springbrook, South Lake Middle School and University Park Elementary organized Monday’s event to raise awareness about the illness, which causes skin to blister and tear. It has no cure.

It also was a day of service to honor late civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday was celebrated Monday.

A few hundred motorists stopped to buy $1 cups of lemonade, including Irvine Mayor Steven Choi, said Ryan Fullmer, Mikey’s father.

Fullmer said he was heartened to see many customers chip in more than a dollar for the cause.

“It was way more than we expected. We’ve only been here 2 1/2 years, so we were floored,” Fullmer said. The family moved to Irvine from San Jose.

--Nicole Knight Shine