Alexa Bolton knows how important a soft, fluffy towel can be.
Alexa, who just finished fifth grade at Elden Elementary School in Baldwinsville, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Ewing’s sarcoma, a form of bone cancer, in October. She began treatment at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital shortly thereafter and, like many cancer patients, lost all of her hair as a result of treatment. The hospital towels were scratchy and uncomfortable on her sensitive skin, especially her newly bald head. She asked her mother, Suzette, to bring a fluffy character towel to the hospital.
Alexa, comforted by the small token from home, thought other kids in her position might also be soothed by a hooded towel. That’s when she came up with the idea for Alexa’s Friends Fund, which seeks to provide a soft, fluffy hooded towel to each new pediatric cancer patient upon their admission to Golisano in the hopes of making their stay just a little more comfortable.
This Sunday, July 26, in order to help Alexa in her mission, runners and walkers will gather at the Saw Mill Creek Shelter by Willow Bay at Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool for an untimed 5K fun run and walk. Registration is $15, all of which goes directly to Alexa’s Friends Fund, run through the Upstate Foundation. Alexa’s Friends Run kicks off at 9:30 a.m.
To register, visit runsignup.com/Race/NY/Liverpool/AlexasFriends5K. If you can’t participate in the race but you’d like to donate to Alexa’s Friends Fund, visit gchkids.org/Alexa.
