Every person can make a difference. We are a society that thinks, ‘I can’t make a difference so why try at all,’ but that’s not true. Even the tiniest person can make a difference if they try.
I want to tell you a story about a little girl who I think has changed the world in a huge way by having a dream and a desire to help others. She was 4 when she first stood up to fight cancer.
Alexandra “Alex†Scott was a beautiful little girl born in Manchester, Connecticut in 1996. She was the second of four children of Liz and Jay Scott.
Shortly before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. On her first birthday, the doctors informed Alex’s parents that if she beat her cancer it was doubtful that she would ever walk again. Just two weeks later, Alex slightly moved her leg at her parents’ request to kick. This was the first indication of whom she would turn out to be – a determined, courageous, confident and inspiring child with big dreams and big accomplishments.
Little Alex continued to fight on and by her second birthday, she was crawling and could stand. This little girl did not know the meaning of the word quit. Then the tumors started growing again.
One day after her fourth birthday, in 2000, Alex received a stem cell transplant and informed her mother, “When I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand.” And she did.
Later that year with the help of her brother, Alex held her first lemonade stand and grossed $2000 for her hospital. For the next four years, brave little Alex held an annual lemonade stand and all proceeds went to help raise awareness and benefit childhood cancer research. I find this little girl to be amazing. Suffering through her own cancer while facing a scary prognosis, she soldiered on until she died in 2004.
As people heard of the courageous little girl with cancer raising money for childhood cancer research, people around the world were inspired to make a difference and followed Alex’s example; holding lemonade stands all over the world.
When Alex passed away in 2004, at the age of 8, she knew she had made a difference in the world. She was the change she wanted to see. The research may not have found the cure in time for her, but maybe soon. Her foundation raised over 1 million dollars for childhood cancer research. That was a life well spent, even if it ended way too soon.
Make a difference. One life can make a difference in the world. Don’t sit around and wait for change to happen. Make it happen.
You don’t have to lobby for and raise money for childhood cancer research, though it is a cause near and dear to my own heart. You see, in my family, we have our own Alex who was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 3. He is now 16 and cancer free but any family who has ever been touched by childhood cancer knows that the research to find a cure is imperative so that we can keep the Alex’s of the world around for years to come; to make a difference and make their mark.
Pick a cause and cast your stone of change. You never know what the ripple of change may bring. Your small idea may someday change the world. If the change you want to see is childhood cancer eradicated from this planet, you can hold your own lemonade stand and donate the proceeds to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for pediatric cancer research.
Remember, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. What can you do to change the world?
Photo Source: Alex’s Lemonade Stand
