News Summary

TRENTON — When Kiersten Palmer, 7, was asked whether she likes her older brother, Nicholas, she never hesitated.

"Not that much," she said. "He's mean."

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Kiersten Palmer, 7, daughter of Heidi and Mike Palmer, prepares lemonade to sell Monday afternoon to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation whose research could help her brother, Nicholas Palmer, who turns 9 today, in his fight with the disease.Click to enlarge

Kiersten Palmer, 7, daughter of Heidi and Mike Palmer, sells lemonade to her friends Alysha Bare, Kaila Covey and McKenzie Covey Monday afternoon.Click to enlarge

Columnist Rick McCrabbClick to enlarge

Don't be fooled by Kiersten's comments. That's what most girls would say about their brother.

Judge Kiersten and her brother's relationship by her actions.

On Monday, Kiersten sat under a Coca-Cola umbrella in her front yard and sold cups of lemonade for a quarter. There were a couple of dollars and a few quarters in her jar, and the bowl of ice never stood a chance against the humid air.

The weather and lack of business didn't deter Kiersten.

"It's a pretty good day," she said.

Kiersten said she'll donate proceeds from her lemonade stand to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Her brother was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 13 months old, his father, Mike, said.

"That turned our world upside down," Mike Palmer said.

"It's kind of not good," Nicholas said of being a diabetic.

"It feels strange that he's different," Kiersten said.

Nicholas, who turns 9 today, wears an insulin pump, has dramatically changed his diet, and that of his family, but remains active in coach-pitch baseball and karate, where he's a blue belt.

"He's a normal, active child," his father said.

After serving her father lemonade Sunday night, Kiersten, a second-grader at Bloomfield Elementary, decided to sell drinks Monday. When she talked to her parents — Mike and Heidi — about the idea, her father said he was "kind of shocked ... dumbfounded, really."

Later he added: "She has a heart. She really cares about others."

The Palmer family also participates in the local diabetes walk, and Mike Palmer hopes one day "we'll find a cure."

And that research may be funded one quarter, one glass of lemonade, at a time.

Contact this columnist at (513) 705-2842 or rmccrabb@coxohio.com.