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Every single birthday counts now, so little Benny Petz is going to open a lemonade stand in the park today to celebrate his.

Instead of collecting presents, as most 5-year-olds would happily do, Benny — though in pain now — will sell lemonade and give all the money to those trying to find cures for childhood cancer.

With only a little time left in his own short life, because of a killer known as neuroblastoma, he wants to try to help the stricken children who will surely come after him.

In doing this, he has joined what is now a nationwide effort — called Alex's Lemonade Stand — to raise funds for pediatric cancer research. The movement started six years ago when a little girl, Alexandra "Alex" Scott, opened the first stand, on her front lawn in suburban Philadelphia, during her own battle against neuroblastoma, an often-fatal childhood cancer.

Though Alex died two years ago at age 8, lemonade stands opened in her name across the country ever since have raised $6 million to fight the cancer that killed her and stalks so many children throughout the world.

"We all got together to figure out how best to celebrate Benny's fifth birthday — there was a time we didn't think he would have one. He's had a lot of close calls," said his mother, Amy Petz.

"We may not be able to save Benny, but what better way to honor him than to help save others? If you are able to come celebrate with us and buy a glass or two of lemonade, we would love to have you."

Benny will be there today, at his stand in Reid Park, for as long as he can, his mom said.

"He's not doing very well. He's in a lot of pain," she said. "He's been fighting this cancer for two-and-a-half years and he's coming to the end of his battle now. No one really knows how much longer he has."

Diagnosed in 2003 with the most common cancer of very early childhood, Benny has endured multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and bone-marrow transplants. Although the cancer went into remission for a short time, it returned in October, when his doctors admitted it was terminal. Benny — who actually turned 5 on Friday — is now undergoing radiation treatments to try to control his pain.

Benny and his family set a goal of $1,000 for his stand today, but had already raised $1,700 by Friday — "before selling even a drop" of lemonade, Amy said.

"So we've kind of upped the goal. If we can hit $5,000, that would be great."