Community Throws Early Halloween For 5-Year-Old With Terminal Cancer
Cancer is something that’s touched far too many lives. It’s a devastating diagnosis no matter how old you are, but it’s even harder to witness what it does to young children who are diagnosed with it.
No one should have to experience cancer, but it’s a reality that many people face including 5-year-old Alex.
According to his GoFundMe page, Alex was diagnosed with brain cancer at just 11-months-old and he’s been fighting for his life ever since.
Alex lives in Hamilton, Ontario with his two older siblings and parents, Kira and Nick.
His family was relieved when the tumor on his brain began to shrink with the use of an experimental drug a few months ago, but it tragically came back with a vengeance.
On September 7, 2022, Paula Tzouanakis Anderson, a close friend of Alex’s family, shared a devastating update on GoFundMe. She wrote:
“With heavy heart we would like to inform everyone for an update on our warrior.. today we had a visit from Alex’s doctors. They will be surprised if Alex is with us next week…it will be a surprise for him to last two months. One night he will go to sleep and wake up in a better place, without limitation.”
Nick and Kira wanted to do anything they could to make Alex’s last few days or weeks as meaningful as possible, so they asked if there was anything he wanted to do. As it turns out, there was. He wanted to see monsters, as many monsters as possible.
Specifically, he wanted to see monsters in Niagara Falls, but it wasn’t advised he travel. So, his family decided to bring some monsters to him and the entire community rallied around to support them.
Paula posted on Facebook in a local group asking the community to show up in costumes to surprise Alex.
She wrote, “I have a time sensitive request/plea. We need volunteers to help make this night Spooktacular for Alexandros, people willing to dress up and walk down the street for him, decorate their cars and drive through the parade! This is extremely time sensitive!”
She created a Facebook event for the big day and more than 500 people responded to it!
In an interview with Today, Paula explained that she expected around 300 people to attend the event on September 14, but as the day progressed “probably close to 1,000 people showed up,” she said.
Alex and his family were blown away by how the community showed up to throw an early Halloween of sorts A parade of costumed people caravaned up and down his street, and he even got to meet one of his favorite characters: Rubble from the Paw Patrol.
You can see a video of the touching event below:
