Girl's garage sale benefits brother's brain tumor treatment

Seventh grader Emily Zint of Arlington Heights rings up sales orders like a pro. At her garage sale this weekend, she deftly answers questions from customers, while promoting her top items, and all while holding firm on her prices.

This is, after all, a benefit garage sale, and Emily has an agenda: She wants to raise money for the pediatric brain tumor clinic at Children's Memorial Hospital, where her brother, Andrew, is being treated.

"I was considering other options, but this one sounded right," Emily says, "since they were the ones that helped him immediately and got it diagnosed."

The garage sale continues 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, at the Zint home, 2632 N. Chapel Hill Drive, Arlington Heights.

Andrew Zint was a typical sophomore at Buffalo Grove High School last winter when he started having unusual symptoms - some numbness, nausea and a difference in his gait, to a twitch in his eye, and a fever.

A visit to his school nurse, and some quick action by his parents, Tony and Susan, and pediatrician Dr. Beth Walsh, and he was undergoing a brain CT scan that day, and emergency surgery that night.

Andrew was diagnosed with a medulloblastoma, which is the most common malignant tumor of the central nervous system in children, accounting for 15-20 percent of pediatric brain tumors.

In Andrew's case, his tumor had embedded in his brain, necessitating that he have intensive radiation and chemotherapy treatment following his surgery.

He and his parents spent nearly two months at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the leading centers for treating this type of cancer, before returning home in April. Andrew resumed chemotherapy treatments at Children's Memorial this summer, which he expects to complete at the end of September.

"I just take it each day at a time," he says, relaxing under a tent at the sale.

Emily, meanwhile, stayed home with her aunt all winter, thinking of ways she somehow could help her brother.

"I knew I wanted to do something," she says. "Then I thought about all these toys I have that are just sitting here. I thought about having a garage sale and a bake sale to raise money."

With her project in mind, and the intended beneficiary of her proceeds, she began to make plans. Her family says she cleaned out her bedroom and closet, before heading to the basement to find more items.

"It's been her summer project," Susan Zint says. "She's been very organized about sorting everything and pricing it."

Emily also did her research. She knew going in that her Barbie Castle, with its assorted features, was valued at $300, and that there was only currently up for auction on eBay.

Consequently, she positioned the castle at the front of her sale, surrounded by baby equipment and more toys. Priced at $100, she figures it's a bargain.

Less than two hours after opening, Emily already had raised $200, and she excitedly pumped her fist. Secretly, she says, she hopes to reach $1,000, in order to be listed by the Children's Memorial Foundation as a major donor.

Her brother smiles at his younger sister's ingenuity, and after initially saying that she "needed to get rid of stuff," he concedes he is touched by her efforts.

"It's for a good cause," he says quietly. "It's great thing that she's done."