Thirteen-year-old Sylvia loves swimming, art, and animals (she once stumped her preschool teacher with her vast knowledge of them!). She recently discovered a love for theater and has been in two musicals at her middle school. She's also in Girl Scouts, afterschool art classes, volunteers at the Minnesota Zoo, helps with Sunday School and participates in the Youth Programs at her church. During her time in the hospital fighting medulloblastoma, she often built LEGO sets as well, and still enjoys them.

Before her diagnosis, Sylvia started having frequent headaches that got more severe over time. Suddenly, she began to vomit almost daily. Her pediatrician recommended an MRI, but didn’t suspect a brain tumor. Initially, they thought it was just a food allergy. Finally, she had an MRI that revealed the tumor and doctors diagnosed her with medulloblastoma. Two days later, they surgically removed Sylvia’s tumor.

Her treatment consisted of 30 rounds of proton radiation and four rounds of chemo, followed by occupational and physical therapy twice a week. During radiation, some of Sylvia’s cranial nerves were damaged and that has affected her eye movements and she now wears special glasses to help correct some of her vision challenges. Today, Sylvia has hit her six-year mark of being cancer-free! She is now transitioning into long-term survivorship.

Her family’s greatest hope is that Sylvia remains cancer-free and that her body grows strong again. They want to use her story to help other families facing a cancer diagnosis too. With time, they hope there can be a cure and treatment that won’t cause so many terrible side effects. Even though she hit her big 5 year milestone, she still needs weekly injections of growth hormones to help her grow, she wears hearing aids because treatment caused some hearing loss, she still has struggles with her balance, and she needs some extra academic supports at school.

Sylvia is her family’s hero because despite all she went through, she kept a positive attitude. She has been kind and caring, often thanking her doctors and nurses. Not once has she let cancer define her.

They have simple advice to anyone facing this situation: You are stronger than you think. When people offer to help, say yes. You can’t do this alone - rely on your family, friends and community to get through it.

For Sylvia’s family, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation symbolizes a hope for a cure. They are so glad that it exists to raise awareness about pediatric cancer and provide support for families going through a difficult time. They had several friends hold a lemonade stand in Sylvia's honor too.

Information provided by Lindsey Ruhland
Updated June 2025