ALSF was started by a sweet little girl named Alex at the age of 4. At the time she was fighting neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer. She had persistently been asking her parents if she could have a lemonade stand outside their home to raise money for “her hospital”, so they helped her set one up. Word spread far and wide about her lemonade stand. People from around the world started to send in money and host their own stands to send her their profits to help her cause. Fast forward four years later, Alex had raised 1 million dollars, her personal goal. Sadly, Alex passed away at the age of 8, but her parents carry on her legacy through the foundation in her name. Today they are one of the leading cancer research grant resources. They have funded over 1,000 grants at 135 different institutions.

The reason I am joining this effort was greatly influenced by my husband, Andrew’s battle with cancer. Watching him go through chemotherapy, learning so much about the different treatments, combinations, trials and methods. I am eternally grateful for the dedication of Andrew’s doctors and nurses at Loyola University in Maywood, IL. I will never forget this particular day. We were waiting in the lobby for him to be called back for another round of chemo when I looked over and saw a little girl. She had to of been close to my son Reed’s age (3). She was in the Chemo center with her mother, and I could tell she didn’t feel well. She had no hair, or eyebrows, and she was frail. However, she continued to play, smile and hug her doll and mother. It broke me. I wanted to scoop her up and tell her it was going to be okay. I wanted to tell her mother the same thing. I wanted so badly to take her cancer from her. Cancer has a way of making you feel completely helpless. That day is when I researched how to get involved in cancer research efforts specifically for children, and then I found ALSF. So here we are! I pray to God we can help make a difference and live to see a day when cancers are cured.