There's a lot of numbers in Alex's description of the twists and turns in his experience with cancer. In the beginning, there was one leg tumor and two spots on his lungs. Fourteen rounds of chemo and six surgeries followed. Then came two years of prepaid college tuition. But the journey started with one serious car accident.

Alex was a full-time high school student and full-time manager-in-training at a Culver's restaurant when his car was totaled in the accident. While a doctor was examining him for injuries, Alex mentioned his leg had been hurting. A scan was taken to further examine the leg.

"The doctor pulled up the scan and said, 'It looks like you have a tumor in your tibia," says Alex. "I was like, 'no, I'm the guy from the car accident." That completely shocked me. I wondered how I was going to work?"

The diagnosis was especially hard on Alex's mother, Ana. In her home country, Russia, cancer is a death sentence. The family had already lost Alex's father to cancer 10 years earlier.

Alex, his mother, and his sister, Nadia, met with the medical team at the University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview to plan out a course of treatment. Alex's cancer, osteosarcoma, would require a multi-pronged approach.

Alex underwent some initial chemotherapy treatments to weaken the cancer. Then, a surgery replaced his tibia and knee with donor bone. More chemotherapy and surgeries for spots on his lungs followed.

Before surgery, Alex had to use a wheelchair because his leg bone was deteriorating so quickly. Afterward, he was in a straight-leg cast for approximately six weeks. "I couldn't bend the leg at all," says Alex. "When I had maybe two weeks left until the cast came off, I was counting it down by hours, I had calculated them out."

One day during inpatient chemotherapy treatment, Alex got a visit from a Children's Cancer Research Fund volunteer named Laura Jahnke. Laura chatted with Alex and asked him questions about his treatment. Then, she told him she was an osteosarcoma survivor who had a similar course of treatment to his.

The visit made a huge impression on Alex. "I thought, wow, it's doable," he says. "I can do this, and be normal again."

Alex's path still was uncertain, and the fellow cancer patients he met at the hospital reminded him of that every day. One particular friend, a fellow cancer patient and 'comrade,' Alex says, was with him during almost all of his treatment. In their year together, Alex watched as the friend tried new treatments, like the types often funded by Children's Cancer Research Fund, to try to beat his cancer.

Eventually, his friend succumbed to the disease. However, some of the treatments made his illness less onerous for a while. For example, one particular type of chemotherapy could be taken on an outpatient basis and didn't cause Alex's friend to get sick. "It was pretty cool, the types of advancements they've made," Alex says.

A bright spot in Alex's cancer experience was his contact with a wish-granting organization that serves patients at University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview and other hospitals. Alex has always been interested in being an entrepreneur and, for his wish, asked to shadow an established Minnesota entrepreneur for a day.

His shadow day with auto dealer Denny Hecker, Alex says, was unforgettable. After a morning of following Hecker around, Hecker allowed Alex to drive his Mercedes to lunch. There they were joined by former Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Tice.

As the group sat down to eat, Tice and Hecker asked Alex what he wanted to do in his life. Alex told them his dream was to go to college. In the course of the lunch, the group presented Alex with a laptop and offered to arrange for a trust account to pay for the first two years of Alex's college tuition.

Alex managed to graduate high school on time, despite an incredibly grueling treatment schedule. He enrolled in the prestigious Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and also sold real estate.

Alex was getting his life back on track but, unfortunately, cancer had other plans. Alex relapsed in the fall of 2006. Despite his positive outlook and undergoing several experimental treatments, Alex lost his courageous battle with osteosarcoma on Jan. 1, 2008.


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