Seven-year-old helps children's hospital.

Five years ago, Jack Witherspoon was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia when he was two years old. The boy from Torrance, California, has been undergoing treatment, on and off, ever since. It is an exhausting regimen that would drain most of the spunk and zest for life from almost anyone enduring it.

Following a relapse of his illness in 2006, Jack had to cut back on his usual physical activities, such as tae kwon do. He underwent 11 five-day sessions of chemotherapy treatment at the Jonathan Jacques Children's Cancer Center at Children's Hospital in Long Beach, and while there he watched a lot of TV cooking shows. The shows inspired an interest in cooking, and when he returned home, Jack pursued his interest firsthand. He also urged his parents to take him to area restaurants, where he always sampled items from the adult menu.

Jack's mother, Lisa Witherspoon, shared her story of Jack's illness and subsequent interest in cooking with a longtime family friend, Paul Hennessey, owner of the HT Grill and Hennessey's Tavern restaurants in Redondo Beach. Their conversation was the start of an innovative project.

"I ran into Paul last August at HT Grill and we were talking about how Jack was doing, his relapse," Mrs. Witherspoon related to the Redondo Beach News. "I mentioned how Jack wanted to be a professional chef and own a restaurant when he grew up. Paul suggested we have a leukemia benefit dinner and Jack could be the chef."

Hennessey explained his thinking: "It'd be a great idea to make him a guest chef. Make it his night, an enjoyable night for our guests, thank all the people who have been helping him get better and raise money for the cancer treatment center. [Jack's] got a vision, and we want to help him accomplish that."

The dinner, held on December 5, inspired a large turnout of 300 guests. In addition to the $75 price of the meal, a silent auction and raffle raised more funds for the hospital. Jack wore a professional chef's outfit, with the HT Grill logo on the coat and his name embroidered on it. He cooked some meals, greeted guests, and helped serve some people. Jack even helped plan the menu, which included some of his favorite dishes, such as eggplant parmigiana with linguine, roast chicken with herbes de Provence, mushrooms stuffed with spinach and three cheeses, and a salad with Jack's own sun-dried tomato ranch dressing. He also made up a kids' menu for the 50 children from his Riviera Elementary School in Torrance who were invited guests.

But if Jack's culinary tastes are rather advanced for his age, he is still a seven-year-old boy. Amid the hustle and bustle of the exciting evening, his father, John Witherspoon, told the Los Angeles Times: "When he gets overwhelmed we'll take him by the hand and let him sit with his little friends and be 7 again."

"He can't wait to go back to school and play with his friends. He's excited to be at the same school as his brother Josh, and to see each other on the playground," explained Lisa Witherspoon. "Jack's gone through a lot. Now he's rising above it. He's being a kid and doing what he wants to do."