"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
For most people, this aphorism is just a cute expression. For Alex Scott, a precocious 7-year-old from Wynnewood, it's been her way of life.
Alex began selling lemonade at the age of 3 after being diagnosed with cancer. In both her native Connecticut and her new home in suburban Philadelphia, she has set up lemonade stands to raise funds for pediatric cancer research.
She's already raised more than $100,000.
When she was one year old, doctors in Connecticut discovered a growth on Alexandra Scott's spinal column. It turned out to be neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer that's fatal in about 40% of cases. The first of her five surgeries occurred on her first birthday. She has been undergoing stem cell transplants, chemotherapy and radiation treatments ever since.
When a portion of her spinal cord was removed, it became difficult for her to walk. She wore leg braces for awhile, but she told her mother she didn't want to wear them any more. She took them off - and hasn't put them back on since.
After treatments at Connecticut Children's Medical Center were unsuccessful, her parents began bringing her to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia for more experimental therapies. CHOP is one of only two hospitals in the U.S. where the most recent treatments can be used.
The medical textbook company where her father, Jason, is a regional sales representative transferred him to Philadelphia so the family could be together during the treatments. Alex, following in her father's footsteps, would like to be known as a great salesman.
If her experience selling lemonade is any indication, she'll be setting some world records.
Somewhere in her Connecticut hospital experience she came up with the idea of opening a lemonade stand to help the hospital. The family wondered how many glasses she would have to sell at 50 cents each to raise significant money. The family tried to dissuade Alex so she wouldn't be disappointed. "I don't care. I want to do it anyway," she told her mother.
The word got out, the Hartford media covered the story, and people turned out by the hundreds to help. And in July 2000, Alex had raised $2,000 for cancer research.
In October 2001, she opened another stand, this time to benefit CHOP. Students and faculty at the Penn Wynne Elementary School, where Alex had just started kindergarten, chipped in to help. In less than a week she had raised $600.
But Alex knew there were other children suffering and that she could do more. Meanwhile, a friend of hers from the hospital, 5-year-old Toireasa Barry, lost her battle with neuroblastoma. So by June 2002, she was ready for a third try. Neighborhood businesses rallied around her spunk.
She raised more than $15,000. The money went to an endowment fund, Toireasa's Dream, to support pediatric oncology research efforts at CHOP.
Today, Alex seems to be responding well to the treatments, and is a sprightly playmate with her brothers Patrick, 8, and Eddie, 5. People, Time and Sports Illustrated magazines have publicized her story. She held an immensely successful lemonade stand in June 2003. She's got her own Web page. Cancer is a daily part of her life; so are her positive outlook and incredible strength that inspire everyone who meets her.
In August 2002, Alex and her family created Alex's Lemonade Stand Fund, a Donor-Advised fund at The Philadelphia Foundation. Donations from around the world are coming in daily: from school classes, Brownie troops, and all kinds of caring people who have been moved by her story. All contributions to the Fund are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Your generous contributions will help countless other children, advance the frontiers of medical research, and prove that when life gives you lemons - you really CAN make lemonade.
