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Fighting Childhood Cancer
One Cup at a Time
Inspired by One Child,
Thousands of Children and
Families Across the Country
Set Up Lemonade Stands and
Raised Money to Make These
Awards Possible.
A four-year-old cancer
patient, Alexandra “Alex”
Scott, sat on her front lawn
selling lemonade with
unwavering confidence that
she could help her doctors
find a cure for her cancer
and the cancers of thousands
of children. At the end of
the day, she was expected to
hand a $10 check to her
doctors. Six years and six
million dollars later,
Alex’s front yard lemonade
stand has evolved into a
national movement for
childhood cancer.
Alex’s simple idea that she
could make a difference by
selling lemonade caught on
with people all over the
country, who joined her
efforts by setting up their
own lemonade stands and
sending the money to Alex,
helping her raise millions
of dollars for childhood
cancer research. Alex passed
away in 2004, but her
mission continues through
the foundation established
by her parents, Alex’s
Lemonade Stand Foundation.
Alex’s Lemonade Stand
Foundation has been award
3.5 million dollars over two
years to fund 30 childhood
cancer research projects.
These projects will help to
improve the availability of
new clinical trials for
children currently
undergoing treatments for
difficult to cure cancers.
Research funds will also be
used to develop and test new
therapies, to develop more
effective and less toxic
treatment protocols and to
find the causes of childhood
cancers.
“We are excited that Alex’s
Lemonade Stand Foundation is
able to fund these cutting
edge childhood cancer
research projects,” said Jay
Scott, Alex’s father. “It is
amazing what Alex started in
our front yard with a
pitcher of lemonade has
turned into a national
movement to fight childhood
cancer and funds millions of
dollars in research
projects. I think Alex would
be very proud of what she
started.”
Alex’s Lemonade Stand
Foundation focuses on three
types of grants:
-
Pediatric Oncology
Translational Research
Awards provide funding
for support personnel
who speed up the process
of enrolling children
with difficult to treat
cancers in clinical
trials.
-
Innovation Awards
provide critical and
significant seed funding
designed for experienced
investigators with a
novel and promising
approach to finding
causes and cures for
childhood cancers.
-
Young Investigator
Awards are designed to
fill the critical need
for start up funds for
new researchers and
physicians to pursue
promising research
ideas.
“The grants range from very
basic genetic research to
projects focused on clinical
applications, but all are
directly designed to impact
pediatric cancers,” said Dr.
John M. Maris, MD, Pediatric
Oncologist for the
Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia and Chair of
the Medical Board for Alex’s
Lemonade Stand Foundation.
“These grants are filling an
incredibly important void at
a time of significantly
reduced funding through the
National Cancer Institute.
It is my firm belief that
the research funded by ALSF
will translate into
significant advances towards
finding a cure for a variety
of childhood cancers.”
The 30 grantees include 7
renewals from 2005 and 23
new grants were awarded in
2006. Grant recipients
include top research
hospitals in California,
Colorado, Connecticut,
Georgia, Illinois, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan,
North Carolina, Ohio, New
York, Nevada, Pennsylvania,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia
and Washington.
“The gallant effort of Alex
to battle childhood cancer,
which has been continued by
her family, will forever
inspire those of us who are
working to discover new
cures for childhood cancer,”
said Dr. Linda M. S. Resar,
M.D. from Johns Hopkins
University School of
Medicine, who was selected
from a competitive field of
applicants to receive one of
six Innovation Awards.
Alex’s Lemonade Stand
Foundation, a non-profit
organization, is committed
to eradicating childhood
cancer. Childhood cancers
are the number one disease
killer of children in the
United States-more than
asthma, cystic fibrosis,
diabetes, and pediatric AIDS
combined. Progress in
treating childhood cancer
has been dramatic in the
last three decades largely
due to increased funding for
research.
http://www.alexslemonade.org |
