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In less than a week, I have learned more about the power of the human heart than I ever imagined. 

My friend and former news producer, Jenny Wilburn, sent out an email blast to let her friends know she was joining a non-profit called Alex’s Lemonade Stand. It struck me as quite leap for Jenny to go from hardcore news junkie to squeezing citrus, but Jenny always knew a good story when she saw one.

Turns out, “Alex” is a spunky 4-year-old girl who was diagnosed with cancer.  This little girl wanted to “cure all children with cancer.”  So to raise funds for cancer research, Alex set up a lemonade stand and made $2000 her first day.    

Only a child could be that idealistic to imagine one lemonade stand would go on to create a legacy that is now nationwide.  Four years later, Alex, who was only 8 years old, succumbed to her cancer.  By then, she had raised more than $1 million for cancer research and her parents had started a foundation to help other children set up their own lemonade stands, raise money and fight for Alex’s dream of curing cancer.   

It is often said we don’t have children in order to teach them; rather, the children will teach us. 

I learned plenty from Alex and her parents about a Love that never dies.

I wish that for my friend Rhonda and her family. I love Rhonda because she never looks back, certainly not even when she gave up her job as one of the chief financial officers for the Writers Guild of America to raise her daughters. But at lunch the other day, Rhonda was looking ahead with a tinge of uncertainty and dread. She told me about Dee, the 30-something wife of her husband’s nephew, who was dying of ovarian cancer.  Dee was diagnosed five years ago, when she was just 26.  She and Jake married anyway.  From the time Jake proposed after Dee’s diagnosis to how they continue to party with friends and family, this couple’s love affair has inspired their family. 

What does it take for a young man to marry a terminally ill cancer patient?  True love: Self-sacrifice. Tender-heartedness. Bitter-Sweet. Ever-lasting. 

Yet, to tell anyone who is about to lose the only person in their life who matters that they are the lucky ones is absolutely ridiculous. I’m sure it was that way for little Alex’s parents as it is for Jake and his wife.

But it is also true.

They might not realize it for years to come. No, first they have to walk over fire, feel the heat, hate the pain and pull at their wounds. It was the only thing that reminded me that I didn’t die too.  Being a cancer caregiver to my late husband, Will and now my own mother has made me wary about the twists and turns in life.  But I must admit, it also has made me feel the hugs, hear the laughter and taste abundance today in ways I never imagined. 

So I told my friend Rhonda that I can promise this: Jake will love again because he loves so well today. He will someday look back on his short years with his beloved wife and cherish all their memories, even the ones made during chemo, because while she lives, they love more intensely.  It’s almost painful how much.

Just as I’m sure Alex’s family did, they will feel it each time the sun touches the horizon, each time, they hug and kiss, each time, they wake to one another in the morning.  And, like Alex’s parents have done, Jake will turn this bad thing in to something good. In that act, whatever it will be, his wife will live on forever. 

Just ask little Alexandra Scott’s parents.  When you go to www.alexslemonade.org you do not see sadness.

You see the joy of parents who brought a remarkable little girl in to the world. This past week has proven to me once again that love is greatest when you have nothing left to lose.

Former CNN anchor, Carol Lin is the mother of one daughter and the co-founder of TulaHealth.  She is a regular ShareWIK.com contributor.  Visit her on the web at CarolLinReporting.com.

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