Alex Cawood's Universe

Alex fought this relentless disease for 18 months through surgeries, brutal chemotherapy, proton therapy, and rehabilitation. He lost the use of his left arm due to nerve damage from the tumor, and eventually lost the use of both his legs when the tumor returned in November 2019 and fully compressed his spinal cord. That is when we were told there was nothing else that could be done.

It’s difficult for young adults to go through something like this. They tend to fall through the cracks, too old to be treated like a child, but too young to face their mortality. Alex faced his mortality head on. How do you measure strength? It can be measured in the ability to smile in front of friends and family so you don’t burden them with what’s going on, the ability to laugh and joke with nurses and doctors while they are administering poison into your body, going to physical therapy and taking everything you’ve got just to slide your arm across a table, shaking from the strain, and then looking up and smiling. That my friends is strength. The courage and strength of this young man left its mark on Alex’s family and everyone who knew him. Our hope is that his story will inspire people to help find a cure for this dreadful disease.

Pediatric Ewing sarcoma is a rare form of cancer that most often affects children and teenagers. It commonly affects bones — such as the ribs, upper arm bone, thighbone, and pelvic bone — but can also affect soft tissues, such as those in the pelvis or chest. Ewing sarcoma only affects 300 to 400 people in the United States each year, and because it is so rare there is very little funding that goes to research and treatment. Due to this lack of funding, there has been little advancement in the treatment of Ewing sarcoma in over 47 years.

That has to change!