Lorenzo, called Enzo by his loved ones, was 9 months old when his family took a vacation to Mexico. His parents, Zoë and Dominique, noticed he wasn’t eating well. Upon returning home, they took Enzo to the pediatrician, who suggested they had “new parent worries.” Zoë and Dominique knew it was something more. Soon after, they were sent to Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego where Enzo was diagnosed with neuroblastoma.

Enzo and his family spent the next seven months in the hospital. Though Enzo was just a baby, he made friends easily. His parents remember how he made an impact on every doctor, nurse, and hospital staff member that passed by their room, even those who were not treating Enzo. Through all of his pain and suffering, little Enzo greeted each day with a smile.

Despite receiving the best care possible, Enzo passed away in May of 2004 at just 16 months of age. “Rather than recount the physical pain and anxiety that he endured, we reflect upon the ways in which he blossomed during his time in the hospital,” described Zoë. “With good cheer, he would push through the severe discomfort and nausea and remind us that he just wanted to play. In the end, it was almost as if he tried to compress an entire childhood into seven short months.”

While in the hospital, an Internet search led Zoë to Alex Scott’s story. Zoë immediately felt a personal connection to the Scott family since Alex, like Enzo, battled neuroblastoma. In 2005, Dominique’s sisters, Evelyne and Natalia, held the family’s first lemonade stand in San Diego’s Balboa Park in Enzo’s memory. Since then, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) has become a way of life for the Rissolo family. They’ve hosted an Alex’s Lemonade Grandstand every year since 2005.

When asked about her favorite part of hosting lemonade stands, Zoë is quick to mention the strong sense of community. “The general community doesn’t always want to talk about childhood cancer, but we know that it’s OK to talk about Enzo’s beautiful life and painful passing with people who come to the stand." Hosting a stand is a way for the whole family to stay connected to Enzo, including his two younger brothers, Dario and Emilio.

Dario was born just days after their lemonade stand in 2008, and both boys have grown up hosting stands. As they get older, they’re finding their own role in the family’s charitable efforts. When he was 12, Dario spoke at the 2018 L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade event as a SuperSib. His school’s philanthropy club even chose ALSF as their charity that year. Zoë virtually spoke to the club about Enzo and the family’s history with ALSF.

As parents who have lost a child, it might seem surprising that Zoë and Dominique often find themselves reflecting on the happier moments in Enzo’s hospital room. Spring of 2004 was a time of great suffering for Enzo, but there are fond memories too: a Passover and Easter filled with the laughs and smiles of friends and family, a door in their room that opened to the warming sun and budding trees of early spring, Enzo’s smiling face as he pointed to the birds that would come to visit just outside that door. Though confined and constrained by conditions no child or family should ever have to endure, they still bump into happy memories of life in that little room.

Information provided by Dominique R. and Zoë A., Enzo's parents
Updated March 2026