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In spring 2002, a young friend died of the same cancer Alex had. In June 2002, Alex raised over $15,000 with her lemonade stand for the fund established in her friend's memory. As the word spread -- through publicity in Philadelphia and through her friends and family -- other children around the country and the world held "Alex's Lemonade Stand" fundraisers. After starting her stand, Alex made numerous appearances for other charitable causes in Philadelphia. In September 2002, she and her parents established a component fund at the Philadelphia Foundation. By the time Alex was nominated for the Volvo for life Awards, they had raised an additional $45,000 for pediatric cancer-related research and other causes of interest to Alex.

The original idea for the lemonade stand was entirely Alex's. When her parents set up the fund, Alex wanted to support cancer research not just for "her" cancer -- neuroblastoma -- but for other kinds of childhood cancer -- because "those kids want to get better too".

On August 1, 2004, Alex died peacefully at the age of 8 after battling cancer for 7 years. By then, she had raised more than $700,000 to fight children’s cancer. By the end of 2004, her fund had raised more than $1.5 million in her memory. Her family and supporters continue her effort today through the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which has set a fundraising goal of $5 million to fund pediatric cancer research in 2005.

For more information go to: www.alexslemonade.org.

To find out about the Alexandra Scott Butterfly Award for an exceptional child hero, click here.

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