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The Cure Starts Now's Tribute Funds

Alex Duarte's Tribute Page

Alexandria "Alex" was full of personality she was silly, happy, had a contagious laugh, smart, strong-willed, and was always so lively. She participated in girl scouts, dance lessons and just started her first year of soccer with her dad as the coach. We remember her always singing and dancing around to Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift, playing Minecraft and Candy Crush, letting her little brother bug her all the time, and taking care of her kitty. She had a true love for animals, and she often spoke about how when she grew up, she was going to help animals and find them all homes.

In September 2013, not long after 1st grade started, Alex began to have terrible daily headaches, and she became very agitated and tired. About 2 weeks after it started and many scans later, she was diagnosed with an inoperable/incurable brainstem glioma, which we found out a couple months later after spending time at St. Jude, that it was called DIPG.

After Alex was diagnosed, we were told the horrifying prognosis and that there was nothing they could do. No treatments, no trials, there was nothing except for radiation and oral chemo to try to slow the growth. It was devastating getting that news and not being able to fix it, not wanting to accept those answers or that fate for her. Everything moved so quickly, with very little direction or guidance on what to do next. Alex completed many rounds of radiation, which was so scary for her. She began oral chemo and was put on very high doses of steroids. The radiation did work initially at stabilizing the tumor, but it only gave us false hope because not long after, it grew aggressively. The steroids were the only thing that helped with the pain and minimizing the symptoms, but it caused her moods to be all over the place. During her fight with DIPG Alex lost the use of her legs, she had limited mobility in her arms, difficulty swallowing, her eyesight declined, her face drooped, she had bone and joint pain, and she gained around 100 pounds from the steroids. All in such a short amount of time. Through everything, Alex stayed strong and positive despite the struggles and changes to her life. I don't know how she did it, but she tried so hard to spend so much time with her little brother and her mom and dad even when she wasn't feeling well. She was still making us laugh and smiling and being the light in all our lives for as long as she could. Alex fought so bravely for almost a year when she passed away at home with her mom and dad by her side in September 2014 at the age of 7. 

We painfully miss our little Alex every single minute of every day.

CSN and funding are so incredibly important to the future of pediatric brain cancer. The awareness and funding that CSN raises gives so much hope for trails and treatments to save childrens lives.

Thank you for choosing to donate to The Cure Starts Now Foundation. 100% of this donation, after credit card processing fees, goes directly towards research to find the homerun cure for cancer, starting with pediatric brain cancer research.

If you would like to make a donation by mail, please send a check to:  The Cure Starts Now Foundation; 10280 Chester Road; Cincinnati, OH 45215 and put the child's name in the memo.

The family receives notification of all donations made to this tribute fund automatically.

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