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In 1997, two days before her first birthday, Alexandra “Alex” Scott was diagnosed with a childhood cancer called neuroblastoma.
At first Alex made good progress in overcoming her disease. By age two she had learned to stand and walk with leg braces.
But just before her fourth birthday, doctors learned that her tumors were growing again.
Shortly after receiving a stem cell transplant, she told her mother, “When I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand.” Her goal was to raise money to give to the doctors at her hospital, so they can “help other kids, like they helped me.”
In the summer of 2000, with the help of her older brother, Alex opened a lemonade stand in front of her Manchester, Connecticut, home. The stand was a hit, taking in more than $2,000. That’s Alex in the picture above, presiding over her business.
Selling lemonade became an annual Scott tradition, even when they moved to Pennsylvania to be near Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
That’s where a few media personalities discovered Alex. Here was a sick child helping other sick children. Could others get in on the act?
Homemade stands began springing up around the country. By 2004 there was at least one “Alex’s Lemonade Stand” in all 50 states.
Alex set her sights on an audacious goal. What if the stands could somehow bring in $1 million to help fund pediatric cancer research? By the summer of 2004, with the help of children from coast to coast, the goal was surpassed.
But Alex’s health was failing. On August 1 of that same year, she succumbed to the cancer she had battled almost all her life. She was 8 years old.
On what would have been her ninth birthday, her parents, Jay and Liz Scott, launched Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to continue the work she had started. ALSF has now raised more than $300 million and has helped fund 1,500 cutting-edge research projects. Its motto is Fighting Childhood Cancer, One Cup at a Time.
Today there is a Lemon Ball, a Lemon Society, and an annual Lemon Run. The month of June features Lemonade Days. The NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers have renamed their community volunteer award the 76ers Hometown Hero: In the Spirit of Alex Scott Award.
But the Foundation is not just a fundraising mechanism or a sponsor of special events.
At its heart, ALSF wants to do what Alex did so amazingly well: encourage children to be there for other children.
When life gave her lemons, Alex made lemonade.
When your hopes, your plans, your health, or your expectations implode this week, what will you choose to do?
The apostle James urges us, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way” (James 1:2-4, The Message).
Make a stand. Start turning the tide where you already are: one smile, one word of encouragement, or one act of courageous faith at a time.
It’s always amazing to look up and find out how many others are ready and willing to join you.