Alex Scott seemed like an ordinary little girl, who would live a perfectly ordinary life. She loved her brothers, her pets. Her favorite colors were blue and purple. She liked eating French fries and reading Little House on the Prairie and Junie B Jones. She enjoyed playing soccer and watching Scooby Doo. She wanted to visit France, she wanted to be a fashion designer. A perfectly ordinary little girl.
As ordinary as a little girl with neuroblastoma could be.
Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma on her first birthday, January of 1997. Her doctor said that she would never be able to walk again, even if she did beat her cancer. But Alex was determined, and worked hard to learn to walk once more, to be strong enough to walk once more. While hospitalized in 2000, Alex told her mom that, when she got out of the hospital, she wanted to have a lemonade stand. She was consumed by this idea of having a lemonade stand, and not to buy a new toy, as her parents originally thought, no, she wanted to give the money to her hospital, so that they could find new treatments, not only for her, but for others in her situation. She was four years old.
Her first lemonade stand raised $2000 dollars.
The next year $12,000
And the next year $500,000
Her spirit and kindness inspired others to hold their own stands, to send her the money they raised, to help in the fight. All this time Alex was fighting an internal battle, against the ever-growing monster inside of her. When Alex was seven she set out to raise a million dollars in her next lemonade stand.
That was Alex’s last lemonade stand. But she kept fighting, fighting until she raised that million dollars.
In her last days, Alex would be lying in her bed, reaching for something. Her mom would ask her Alex, what are you reaching for? And Alex would reply that she was chasing butterflies. Even in her bedroom, sick, and weak, she was actually out in the sun, among the grass and flowers, chasing butterflies.
Little Alex Scott, a supposedly ordinary little girl, wasn’t ordinary at all.
She was extraordinary.
Alex may now be in heaven, chasing the butterflies, but her legacy lives on. She is the founder of the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which reached its goal of raising $100 million dollars towards cancer research this year, 2015. She lives on through her parents, her brothers, and the lives of those she touched, whether personally or through her legacy. But, most importantly, Alex Scott gives people hope. Hope for a better future, better life.
Hope for a world without cancer
One cup at a time
