We are official!

In June of this year, my daughter Alexa was admitted to the hospital for persistent fevers. Pictured here in her Fancy Nancy gear, you can see that she was feeling wonderful otherwise. A week later, it was determined that an unidentifiable infection had taken over her lungs and a biopsy was needed to further investigate our options.

The evening of the surgery, she was laying in bed with an oxygen mask on. She started talking about things she wanted to do when she got better so I told her we could make a list and when she was better we would do everything she wanted. Number one was "Go to a park, a PINK park". Number two was "get a pink dress". She loved parks and playing dress up and her favorite color was, of course, PINK. The list continued but we never got to do the things on her list because a week later Alexa died in my arms. Her weakened body was unable to fight off the terrible infection and her lungs simply gave out. She lived for four years, one month and 25 days.

In the days and weeks that followed I lived in a fog of disbelief and utter agony. My sweet darling girl had died and all I could do was grieve her. One day I went to dinner with a fellow cancer mother. She told me about an idea she had that Alexa would have loved- a dress up closet for the cancer kids at her hospital. Listening to her, my heart was filled with joy for the first time since Alexa's passing and I knew that Alexa was guiding me to her work.

Shortly thereafter, The Princess Alexa Foundation was organized and today, three months later, we are beginning to see the first fruits of our labor. We currently provide costumes for terminally ill children on hospice care. We also provide dress up accessories for quarterly themed parties held for the cancer patients at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas. Our 2008 plans include a dress up closet on the cancer floor for children to enjoy on a regular basis. These children are immuno suppressed, so all costumes will be new and they will get to keep what they pick out. We are also in the planning stages for “Alexa’s Pink Park” – a place where all children, including those with special needs, can safely play and enjoy their vibrant young lives.

Thank you to all our supporters thus far. I would like to especially thank my sister Colleen for teaming with me on the creation and implementation, my brother Derek for the incredible website, my husband Zack for administrative help, Kristi for legal advice, Jenny Scott for non-profit advice and my other friends on the board: Kirsten, Shelly and Ann. Thank you to all those who have shown excitement and given encouragement for Alexa's Foundation.

This is Alexa's work. I hope it will make her proud.