Lombard girl fighting cancer with lemonade stand

So often when we talk about childhood cancer, we think of the child as the passive victim and their adults as the actors — the doctors and nurses who make diagnoses and oversee and administer treatment, the parents who advocate and care for their children, the scientists who race against time to discover causes, medicines, therapies and cures.

But that's not the way Alex Scott saw cancer, and it's not how Anna Ciamarra is fighting hers.

Alex Scott lived most of her life with neuroblastoma, over and over defying doctors' predictions of what she could accomplish. Three years after her diagnosis, 4-year-old Alex decided she could do more than fight her own cancer, she could fight every child's cancer. She organized a lemonade stand that raised $2,000 for her hospital to help other children.

That first lemonade stand turned into annual sales and the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, which continues to inspire people around the world to follow her example and fight childhood cancer in her memory.

Consider Anna inspired.

She was 5 when a sore throat led doctors to diagnose her with a form of leukemia. Like Alex, Anna wanted to take action for herself and other children. Last year, Anna and her family organized their first lemonade stand at their Lombard home to benefit Alex's foundation and, like Alex, raised $2,000.

Anna, now 7, may still be fighting her own personal battle, but she's expanding her larger assault on cancer. She and her family are serving as a National Lemonade Days Heroes Ambassador family and working with Immaculate Conception Grade School in Elmhurst to host Anna's Lemonade Stand on Saturday, June 3, with the goal of raising $5,000 to support Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.

Today, Ruth Ciamarra tells us more about her daughter's unexpected diagnosis and their commitment to defeating childhood cancers.

Ruth Ciamarra

As a parent of a child battling cancer, I am often asked how we came to learn about our daughter's diagnosis. I wish I could tell you that it showed ominous signs and arrived with plenty of notice to give the best outcome. It didn't. It sneaked in when we least expected it, and we only accidentally came to know it was there.

It was a terrifying surprise that indelibly made its mark on every day we have and ever will know, and it is something that our family is fighting to change.

On a seemingly ordinary Sunday afternoon, I drove my 5-year-old daughter, Anna, to the pediatrician to rule out a strep throat infection due to a fever that came and went, causing Anna to be sent home from school.

After a visit with the doctor, followed by a trip to the hospital for a second opinion, including multiple tests, we had a diagnosis: high risk T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Needless to say, when we left the house that day, we never thought we'd end up in the pediatric ICU. Life as we knew it would never be the same.

Anna quickly began the marathon treatment protocol for ALL — a minimum of two years of inpatient and outpatient therapies that include chemotherapy, lumbar punctures, transfusions and constant diagnostic testing to make sure Anna is tolerating and responding to the treatment.

As Anna continues treatment, our family is using our newfound life as a childhood cancer hero family to raise awareness and funds by hosting lemonade stands for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, a national childhood cancer foundation dedicated to funding research into new treatments and cures for all children battling cancer.

Founder Alexandra “Alex” Scott held her first front yard lemonade stand when she was just 4 years old with a mission to find cures for all children battling cancer.

Last year, we hosted a stand at our home and had a tremendous outcome, raising more than $2,000. This year, we were selected as one of the foundation's National Lemonade Days Hero Ambassadors, and we wanted to partner with our school and community, which has supported us throughout this journey, to have an even greater impact.

Our partner hosts this year, Immaculate Conception parish and school in Elmhurst, have been an integral part of our survival during treatment. Immaculate Conception Grade School families and faculty have been a lifeline for us, and we are excited to now be able to join with the school and host a lemonade stand during Lemonade Days for ALSF.

This is a wonderful way to continue the story for all the students in honor of Anna, to raise awareness for this important issue, and to serve others.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 3, in the parking lot of Immaculate Conception school, York and Arthur, Elmhurst, we will have Anna's Lemonade Stand with a goal of raising $5,000 for ALSF.

We also have a fundraising page, alexslemonade.org/mypage/1321345, to accept online donations through Saturday. We encourage anyone inspired by our story to donate there or visit our stand in person.

Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease for children younger than 15, with 250 children dying every day from cancer. We can change that, but childhood cancer research is vastly and consistently underfunded.

That's how lemonade stands and children themselves can help make a difference and keep these life-changing surprises from happening to anyone else.