Seven-year-old helps children's hospital.(THE GOODNESS OF AMERICA)(Jack Witherspoon )

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 ...