Fighting Cancer One Cup of Lemonade at a Time

July 30, 2005 — -- Selling cold lemonade on a hot summer day is a right of passage for many American children. But in the case of some lemonade stands popping up around the country, it's not about making money. It's about giving something back.

Courtney Smith, 11, is one of many kids who has started a lemonade stand in honor of Alexandra Scott, another young entrepreneur who suffered from a rare childhood cancer.

"If there's one good thing I've done in my life, it's this," Courtney said.

Alexandra Scott wasn't even a year old when the deadly disease neuroblastoma attacked her body with tumors and sores, forcing her to undergo several surgeries. She lost her curly brown hair to chemotherapy, and doctors said she would never walk. But the little girl with the tireless spirit proved them wrong.

When she was 4 years old, Alex told her mom she wanted to do something other kids do -- open a lemonade stand. And she wanted the profits to go to her hospital -- the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"I was a little worried that she would be disappointed, but she didn't really care what my opinion was," Liz Scott, Alex's mom, said of her daughter. "She said she was going to go ahead and do it anyway."

Alex's first lemonade stand raised $2,000. Another stand brought in an astonishing $15,000. Friends and strangers were drawn to her mission and opened stands, too. In 2003, Alex Scott helped raise $100,000 for pediatric cancer research.

"She wasn't one to sit around wanting people to feel sorry for her," said her dad, Jay Scott. "She wanted to go out there and do something to help her situation and to help other kids."

Her mother said that Alex never downplayed the importance of selling even one cup of lemonade. "She said, 'Basically I don't care how much money I raised. Every little bit counts and I'm going to do it,' " Liz said.

Her efforts didn't go unrecognized. The Philadelphia 76ers basketball team honored her as a "hometown hero." Oprah Winfrey interviewed her. Volvo named an award after her and gave $20,000 to her foundation, Alex's Lemonade Stand for Pediatric Cancer Research.