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8-Year-Old Girl Raises Money To Aid Kids At UCI Medical Center

IRVINE (CBSLA.com) — Jordan Gray is just eight years old, but she is already more than familiar with having to undergo procedures in the hospital. She spent part of her summer working a lemonade stand in order to donate her earnings to other children in the hospital who suffer from ailments.

Gray has undergone numerous surgeries at UC Irvine Medical Center to correct anomalies on her hands that had occurred while she was still in her mother's womb. She was born with her fingers fused together, and most of her right thumb was missing. She ultimately underwent a toe-to-thumb procedure.

A group called Child Life was instrumental in helping her cope with the surgery process.

"What happens I think when kids are chronically ill or having surgery is that they don't quite have a firm place with their peers, but they're not quite friends with their doctors, so there's this middle place, and Child Life is somebody who they can kind of bond with," Jordan's mother Jennifer said.

Jordan says that she was determined to give back. She and her siblings ended up raising over $150 through the lemonade stand.

"I feel happy that they'll be other to help other kids with other toe transfers and things with all that money," Jordan said.

Jordan says she hopes the money will go directly to programs to help other kids cope with their various ailments.

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