Metro
An Inspiring Champion
New book captures the spirit of teen's battle with cancer.
Bill Graham addresses the guests at a pre-publication gathering held at Specialties Showroom Susie Graham listens to guests reminisce about Alex
in Berkley.
and her wish.
"I hope my life carries on with one leg even though
it's tough now. I have the worst phantom pain ever.
It feels like my foot fell asleep, my toe knuckles are
scraping on the cement and my foot is on fire.
Other than that, I'm great!"
Alex Graham
Robert A. Sklar
Editor
T
he book details Alexandra
Graham's determined quest to
beat cancer, but it's not really
about her. It's about her legacy and the
lessons that she taught us that still echo
around the world today.
Alex, survived by her parents and broth-
ers David and Robbie, lost her 2-year
battle with bone cancer that claimed a leg
and part of a lung. She was just 17 when
she died on Jan. 25, 1999, 4 3/2 months shy
of her graduation from West Bloomfield
High School. But her qualities linger: She
was focused and a fighter. Alex had been
in good health and an athlete. Her dream
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July 3 • 2008
was to study photography and help better
the world. Alex persevered when the pain
intensified, she toughened as the diagnosis
worsened and she inspired as the hope of
recovery dimmed. She was gravely ill, but
determination sprouted from her as much
as it did from the people who sought to
comfort her.
Pre-publication orders are being
taken for When One Door Closes: A Teen's
Inspiring Journey and Living Legacy, the
228-page hardcover book that her parents,
Susie and Bill Graham, co-wrote with H.
Thomas Saylor, an Oakland County author.
The book, three years in the making, is
meant to be uplifting, not a deathwatch.
In their own words, family, friends, medi-
cal experts, caregivers, clergy, community
leaders and a rock star (Ed Robertson
of the Barenaked Ladies) tell how Alex
opened doors and made a positive dif-
ference in their lives — even if they had
never met her.
An example of Alex's fortitude came
when she learned her biopsy was malig-
nant with osteogenic sarcoma. "I don't
have cancer," she said. "My leg has cancer."
The Grahams are members of Adat
Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
In one chapter, Rabbi Daniel Nevins, who
recently left to become dean of the rab-
binical school at the Jewish Theological
Seminary in New York, tells of a letter he
got from Wheelchairs for the World soon
after Alex died. It sought used medical
equipment to donate to patients in devel-
oping lands. The letter reminded him of
Alex's wheelchair, which was still in good
shape. An African boy benefited from it.
Nevins remembers visiting Alex in the
hospital's cancer ward. "You tried to put on
this brave face because you went intend-
ing to cheer her up. Instead, the very first
thing she did was to cheer you up. You
quickly found yourself drawing comfort
from her as opposed to being the com-
forter!'