Jason Maltzman,
Talia Salei, Lauren Lovinger
and Alex Graham following a
Grand Rapids music concert.

hand-decorated hat on her front
porch, anonymous gifts she used to
cover her head following cancer
treatments. Alex came to call this
person the "hat fairy." After Alex's
death, her family found flowers and
a candle in the same spot where the
hats had been left.
As she had hoped, many good
deeds have been done in Alex's
memory. West Bloomfield High
included a request in its monthly
Insights newsletter for students to
remember their classmate by doing
something nice for someone else,"
suggesting they visit a sick friend or
volunteer at a soup kitchen or food
bank.
The high school and also Detroit
Country Day School in Beverly Hills
held blood drives in Alex's name.
WBHS established a photography
scholarship because photography was
her passion. Adat Shalom
Synagogue, where her family
belonged, set up an Alex Graham
Travel and Education Fund to
enable teens to participate in confir-
mation or Israel trips.
Additionally, hundreds of contri-
butions were made in her memory
for the William Beaumont
Leukemia-Pediatric Hematology
Fund. Susie Graham, Alex's mother,
said donations to the fund provide
medicine for children who can't

"

6/11
1999

40_Detroit Jewish News

ing. or terminal illnesses.
Offered the opportunity of fulfill-
ing a dream, Alex chose to make a
television public service announce-
ment on behalf of children with can-
cer. Delivering the message, "It's not
our fault we got sick, so please don't
stare," the commercial ends with
Alex's words, "The next time you see
a kid with cancer, or even someone
who looks a little different, try a
smile. We could use it."
Susie and William Graham
remain in regular contact with Alex's
friends. The Grahams shared gradua-
tion celebrations with many of her
classmate friends. In May, the
Grahams joined those attending
Adat Shalom's Hebrew school gradu-
ation, and accepted a diploma
inscribed to Alex.
Last month, as Adat
Shalom Cantor
Howard Glantz sang,
Alex's family and
To participate in the Relay for Life event,
friends released 18 bal-
become a vendor, purchase $10 luminary candles
loons over her grave.
or make donations to the American Cancer
They flew into the sky
Society, call Cynthia Strum, at (248) 557-5353
to mark her 18th
birthday.
Send tax-deductible donations for Make-A-
The American
Wish of Michigan \X/AM 300 Bicycle Tour to:
Cancer Society, which
Team Alex, do Susan Rothstein, 4832 S. Knoll
hosts 2,500 national
Court, West Bloomfield 48323. (Write checks to
Relay for Life events
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan.)
annually, this year
added another at

afford it, or pays for transportation
to help, perhaps, "a grandmother
who couldn't afford to visit a sick
child — things that were really
important to Alex."
When the family decided to
donate her wheelchair to someone in
need, Adat Shalom Rabbi Daniel
Nevins suggested contacting Wheels
for the World, an organization that
sends wheelchairs to Third World
countries. A West African now
makes use of Alex's wheelchair.
While a producer has approached
Alex's family to make a television
movie about her life and impact on
others, they feel her true legacy is in
the commercial she made for Make-
A-Wish Foundation of Michigan, an
organization that grants wishes to
children suffering with life-threaten-

WBHS in memory of Alex.
With an expected 20 teams of 15
members each, and a goal of
$30,000 in contributions, the relay
involves one member of each team
walking or running on a track for 24
hours. The ream event, to raise
funds and awareness of cancer issues,
begins with a kickoff called the
Victory Lap at noon Saturday, June
26. The first group on the track will
be cancer survivors.
Alex's friends and family have
formed eight teams of 15 or more
members for the event; her mother's
team is called the Ali-gators —
Alex's nickname.
After payment of a $150 team-
registration fee, to cover event
expenses, all donations received from
sponsors will go to the cancer soci-
ety. Contributions will help patients
and their families, provide educa-
tional and early detection programs
and support the society's research.
A portion of the Ali-gators' con-
tribution came from the sale of
small "angels in your pocket" coins,
a subject of great interest to Alex.
A candle-lighting ceremony will
take place during the relay. At sun-
down, luminary candles, purchased
in memory of those whose lives were
touched by cancer, will be lit as each
name is read aloud. The luminaries
will line the track and be left burn-
ing through the night.
Another event helping to honor
Alex's memory takes place in July. A
group of Detroit-area bike riders
calling themselves Team Alex will
participate in the Wish-A-Mile 300
Bicycle Tour, a fund-raiser for Make-
A-Wish Foundation of Michigan.
Beth Brandvain decided to recruit
participants for the northern
Michigan ride after attending Alex's
funeral with her son Yaniv, who waste
a friend of Alex. Wanting to do
something useful, Brandvain decided
the activity was "something Alex
would have really wanted." A per-
sonal goal of Team Alex, she said, is
to win the trophy being given to the
ream collecting the most donations,
and "bring it home to Susie and
Billy," Alex's parents. Two friends of
Alex are helping further that cause. -`
Stephanie Lovinger, 21, a 1999
University of Michigan graduate and
her sister, North Farmington High
School graduate Lauren, 17, are
requesting that in lieu of graduation
gifts, donations be made ro the
Make-A-Wish team. [11

