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Alex's Lemonade

by Maddy from Dublin

A hero is someone who has impacted someone else's life. A hero is a role model, a leader, someone who has made a difference somehow. A hero doesn't need to be famous, just passionate and compassionate. Heroes are determined, thoughtful, courageous, inspiring and humble. Heroes are long remembered.

Alexandra Flynn Scott is a great example of a hero. You can call her Alex. Alex was born on January 18, 1996 and everything about her seemed completely normal, but that wasn't the case. Shortly before her first birthday Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a kind of children's cancer. On her first birthday, the doctors gave Alex's parents bad news: if she did beat her cancer it was unlikely that she would ever walk again. Just two weeks later, Alex was able to move her leg, responding to her parents request to kick. From this, they knew Alex would be a determined child. By the time Alex was two years old, she was able to crawl and stand up with the help of leg braces. She continued to get stronger, was able to walk and was going against all odds. Then the doctors discovered that Alex's brain tumors had started growing again. The day after her fourth birthday in 2000, Alex had a stem cell transplant done and told her mother, "when I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand." She said she wanted to donate money to doctors and "help kids like they helped me." Alex did open a lemonade stand with her brother later that year. In fact, she raised $2,000 for pediatric cancer. In the mean time, Alex was still in a constant battle with cancer. However, she still held yearly lemonade stands to raise money for pediatric cancer research. People heard about Alex and her wonderful idea and were so inspired that they started their own lemonade stands and donated to Alex's cause. In August of 2004, when she was eight years old, Alex passed away knowing that she had collected over one million dollars to research of the disease that took her life. Alex's family is still working hard to continue Alex's thoughtful idea.

Now that you know more about Alex, I am going to explain to you why she is such a great hero.

Alex is determined. While battling her own disease, Alex wanted to work hard to help others in the future with the same disease by donating to neuroblastoma research. Alex would not give up, she wanted to help find a cure.

Alex is thoughtful. She was selfless and had a true passion to help others. She was courageous because neuroblastoma was a rare and dangerous disease that did not guarantee a good chance at life, but she still lived life as it was meant to be.

Alex is inspiring and there is cold hard proof for that. Hundreds of other people joined her in selling lemonade to donate to research for her disease. Alex is humble. She is truly selfless and thought of others when she was at her worst.

Alex may be small, but she is one of the best five year olds this world has ever known and I bet everyone of you has something to learn from her great bravery.

Page created on 5/29/2013 12:00:00 AM

Last edited 5/29/2013 12:00:00 AM

The beliefs, viewpoints and opinions expressed in this hero submission on the website are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs, viewpoints and opinions of The MY HERO Project and its staff.