Cookbook Sales to Benefit PAHS Student Battling Cancer

Most kids while away their summer vacation sitting by the pool or traveling to tourist destinations with their families.

This past summer, Phoenixville teenager Jenna Lian Powell spent her time more altruistically. She collected 125 family recipes for a cookbook intended to raise money for the family of Grace Dougherty, a sophomore at Phoenixville Area High School who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May.

Powell, an eighth-grade student at Phoenixville Area Middle School, wanted to do something to help Grace, who she knows through an older sister.

“Grace is so young and she has cancer,” Powell said. “I just wanted to do something to help her. I thought a cookbook would make a good fundraiser, since it’s useful and it’s for a good cause.”

Dougherty, daughter of Carolann and Stephen Dougherty, is in the fourth-phase of treatment for leukemia. According to information posted by her family on the online networking site, the 15-year-old has undergone numerous treatments since her diagnosis in the spring: five procedures to test bone marrow taken from her hips; 12 spinal taps; and eight days of cranial radiation, among other procedures.

She spent numerous weeks in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and undergoes chemotherapy treatments at the CHOP location in King of Prussia.

As Dougherty approaches her 16th birthday in January, she does so with the expectation of reaching the “maintenance” phase of her treatment by February.

The book is titled “Grace’s Good Eatin’ Cookbook,” and is now on sale for $10, with approximately one-half of the proceeds going to the Dougherty family. Copies of the book can be obtained by contacting Kathy Powell, Jenna’s mother, at chuanmin@msn.com or via phone at 484-716-6716.