“Tony was diagnosed when he was almost 3 years old in June 2006, and we went to Philadelphia for his treatment and that is
when I first got involved with the foundation,” Salerno explained. According to the National Cancer Institute, a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, neuroblastoma is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in nerve tissue of the adrenal gland, neck, chest or spinal cord. Neuroblastoma most often begins during early childhood, usually in children younger than 5 years old. Alex’s Lemonade Stand was begun by Alexandra Scott, who was diagnosed with the disease just before her first birthday. Around the age of 4 and in treatment for cancer, she told her mother that when she left the hospital, she wanted to have a lemonade stand to raise money for her doctors to find a cure for neuroblastoma. “The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is actually the headquarters of Alex’s Lemonade Stand,” Salerno said. “When Alex ran her first lemonade stand, she made $2,000 and she did it again the following year.” According to alexslemonade.org, Scott raised the million dollars before she passed away in 2004 at the age of 8. “A lot of our family and friends were asking if they could make donations and we really didn’t know where to direct them,” Salerno said. “But while we were in Philly, we actually met Alex’s parents Liz and Jay Scott. So I got involved.”
Two years ago, Salerno held her own lemonade stand.