Two South Valley families pour their hearts into helping their children fight cancer

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Miles away from any hospital, two mothers poured their hearts and their drinks into a sweet mission.

Lemoore's Veronica Araiza and Visalia's Melissa Flores came together to refresh their children in a rare fight.

"My son was diagnosed at 16 months with retinoblastoma," said Araiza.

Just a couple hundred kids in America get diagnosed with the fast-developing eye cancer every year.

Doctors realized Michael had it at 16 months.

"It was scary. It's a scary time. He's teething, learning to walk, learning to do everything, plus getting poison pumped into him," said Araiza.

Jocelyn's cancer started at birth.

The moms found each other on Facebook and the common cancer forged a bond through their families.

They would not fight alone, but sometimes it sure felt like it.

"Cancer is expensive and cancer is not 'oh, two months, a month they're done. Our kids have years, years of this," said Flores.

They say only about four percent of cancer research goes towards childhood cancers, such as, retinoblastoma. The lemonade stand, on the first really hot weekend of the year, is raising money for Alex's lemonade stand, a charity specifically targeting kids' cancers.

"They went through horrible chemo. They were so sick during that time but look at them. They're running around having the time of their lives," said Araiza.

The diagnosis and the possibility of a relapse will always linger over their childhoods, but now it is a ride they'll take together.