Northglenn – Roxie Pasma got more than just a tasty treat from a simple lemonade stand Saturday morning.
The 6-year-old from Niwot also got a cup full of hope from an enterprise started by a girl who also battled childhood cancer.
Alexandra “Alex” Scott was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in January 1997. She fought the disease for seven years before she died in August 2004.
Alexandra’s legacy is the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. She and her brother first put the idea into action on their parents’ front lawn in Connecticut.
Soon, other Alex’s Lemonade Stands emerged all over the country, eventually raising $5 million for cancer research by December 2005.
Roxie and her family on Saturday visited the lemonade stand in front of the Gunther Toody’s restaurant at 301 W. 104th Ave.
Roxie was diagnosed with neuroblastoma when she was 3, said Roxie’s dad, Tony Pasma.
“We followed everything going on with Alex’s Lemonade Stand … very closely because it held a lot of meaning for us,” Tony Pasma said.
Neuroblastoma – in which cancer cells form in the nerve tissues of the adrenal gland, neck, chest or spinal cord – is rare. About 650 children and adolescents are affected each year.
“The families involved are a real tight- knit group,” Pasma said. “We kind of surround each other and support each other.”
Roxie underwent chemotherapy and her cancer is in remission. On Saturday, she ran and played with her twin sister, Mackenzie.
Her older brother – 8-year-old Zack – gave her piggyback rides. She still has stomachaches, but she’s regained her energy and was able to complete her first year of kindergarten, said her mother, Cyndi Pasma.
“She has a lot of spunk and she just wants to be like a normal girl,” Cyndi Pasma said.
In 2005, there were more than 1,000 Alex’s Lemonade Stands across the country. Gunther Toody’s plans to host the stands at each of its five Denver-area restaurants, as well as two in Colorado Springs, through June 11, said company spokesman Chuck Gross.
The Pasmas are banking that the lemonade stands will lead to a cure for their daughter’s disease – or at least make it as easily treatable as some cancers are today.
“We’re hoping in 10 years,” Cyndi Pasma said, “that a cure will be here.”
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
