Timucuan Longhouse of Jacksonville Supports Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation
Submitted: Brian Quirk, Flaming Arrow
For more than a decade, members of the Timucuan Longhouse of Jacksonville have supported Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation to help raise awareness of childhood cancer. As part of the Native Sons and Daughters parent/child program, members and their children spread out throughout southern Duval County and northern St. Johns County to host 15 Lemonade Stands at various Publix Supermarket locations. Event organizer, Mike “Wild Eagle” Ryan states, “Each of us is blessed with the ultimate gift of a child from the Great Spirit. One of our own princesses is a survivor of this wicked disease”. As in previous years, our sister chapter, The Great Sun Nation out of Boca Raton joined in the fight to find a cure for childhood cancer. This year, the two groups raised just shy of $10,000 for the Foundation. One of the core building blocks of the Native Sons and Daughters program is showing our children how we support the communities we live in. The entire essence of our program is for fathers to spend quality time with our sons and daughters building life-long memories. If you are not familiar with the story behind our efforts, here is a little background on our Founder.
Alexandra “Alex” Scott
Alexandra “Alex” Scott was born to Liz and Jay Scott in Manchester, Connecticut on January 18, 1996, the second of four children. 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 who she would turn out to be – a determined, courageous, confident and inspiring child with big dreams and big accomplishments.
By her second birthday, Alex was crawling and able to stand up with leg braces. She worked hard to gain strength and to learn how to walk. She appeared to be beating the odds, until the shattering discovery within the next year that her tumors had started growing again. In the year 2000, the day after her fourth birthday, Alex received a stem cell transplant and informed her mother, "When I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand." She said she wanted to give the money to doctors to allow them to “help other kids, like they helped me.” True to her word, she held her first lemonade stand later that year with the help of her older brother and raised an amazing $2,000 for “her hospital.”
While bravely battling her own cancer, Alex and her family continued to hold yearly lemonade stands in her front yard to benefit childhood cancer research. News spread of the remarkable sick child dedicated to helping other sick children. People from all over the world, moved by her story, held their own lemonade stands and donated the proceeds to Alex and her cause. In August of 2004, Alex passed away at the age of 8, knowing that, with the help of others, she had raised more than $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Alex’s family – including brothers, Patrick, Eddie, and Joey – and supporters around the world are committed to continuing her inspiring legacy through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
Timucuan Medicine Man Mike “Big Horn Moose” Russell wants to thank all of the dads and children who donated a few hours to assist us in finding a cure for this wicked disease. Upcoming events for our organization include, Summer Bowling on Sunday afternoons, attending a Jacksonville Sharks football game and our annual overnight canoe trip down the Suwannee River.
For more information about our parent/child program, please visit our website at nsdjax.org or if you are in South Florida, please visit www.greatsunnation.com
To see Alex’s story and the research being conducted to find a cure for this form of childhood cancer, please visit Alex’s website at www.alexslemonade.org.
