Thinking of Lemonade at
This Time of Year?
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, Alexs
front yard lemonade stand has evolved into a national
movement for childhood cancer.
Alexs 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, Alexs Lemonade Stand
Foundation.
Alexs 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 Alexs Lemonade Stand Foundation is able
to fund these cutting edge childhood cancer research
projects, said Jay Scott, Alexs 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.
Alexs 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 Childrens
Hospital of Philadelphia and Chair of the Medical Board for
Alexs 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.
Alexs 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