Alex's Legacy

Meet Alex

Before we tell you about Alex's cancer, we want you to know Alex.

Because Alex was so much more than a diagnosis.

He was a son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin, and friend. He was a young man with dreams, ideas, friendships, plans, and an incredible love for life.

Alex loved life more than anyone I have ever known.

He looked forward to tomorrow. He thought about where he wanted to go, what he wanted to accomplish, and the life he wanted to build.

And Alex always had a plan. Actually, he usually had a backup plan, and sometimes a backup plan for the backup plan.

When Alex thought about college, there wasn't just one school or one path. If Plan A didn't work, he had a Plan B. And if Plan B didn't work, Alex would figure out Plan C.

Alex was always looking ahead.

Before we tell you about Alex's cancer, we want you to know Alex.

The Things Alex Loved

When Alex was younger, basketball was a big part of his life. He loved playing the game, especially the three-point shot, inspired by Steph Curry.

As he grew older, his interests grew with him. He loved cars. He loved Fortnite. He loved thrifting and finding vintage clothing. He loved the Baltimore Ravens and Steph Curry. And he loved his rescue dog, Cleo.

A Heart for Others

One day, after basketball at the YMCA, Alex saw a homeless man standing along the side of the road. Alex noticed him and wanted to help.

We circled back, and Alex gave the man some money, something to eat, and his Gatorade.

There was no audience. No cameras. Nobody watching. He wasn't doing it for recognition or praise. Alex simply saw someone who needed help and chose to help him.

It was a small moment in the life of a young boy, but it said so much about his heart. Alex noticed people. He cared about people. And when he saw someone struggling, his instinct was to ask what he could do.

Thinking of Others, Even in His Own Fight

In February 2026, just one month after his 16th birthday, a car show was held for Alex. The event raised an incredible $27,000.

When Alex was asked what he wanted to do with the money, he didn't need time to think about his answer.

Without hesitation, Alex wanted the money donated to cancer research. He wanted it to help other people fighting cancer.

Alex was 16 years old and fighting an extraordinarily rare and aggressive cancer himself. There were treatments, expenses, and countless reasons he could have chosen to use that money for himself.

But his first thought was about someone else.

Years earlier, he had wanted to turn around to help a homeless man. Now, while facing the greatest fight of his own life, that same heart was still there.

Alex never stopped seeing other people. Even when he was the one who needed help, he was thinking about how he could help someone else.

That was Alex.

But his first thought was about someone else.

April 2025

In April 2025, at just 15 years old, Alex and our family entered a world we never imagined we would know.

Alex was diagnosed with mesenchymal chondrosarcoma (MCS), an extremely rare and aggressive form of sarcoma.

It is the kind of cancer most people have never heard of. We hadn't either.

Suddenly, our family was learning words no family expects to learn: sarcoma, chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, scans, clinical trials, molecular testing, and eventually, a rare genetic fusion associated with Alex's cancer called HEY1::NCOA2.

But while the medical world saw a patient with an extraordinarily rare cancer, we saw Alex.

And Alex fought.

He endured chemotherapy, radiation treatments, surgery, hospital stays, medications, scans, procedures, and countless appointments. His cancer would eventually spread to multiple areas of his body.

There were good days and incredibly difficult ones. There was hope, fear, laughter, exhaustion, determination, disappointment, and heartbreak.

But something remarkable remained throughout Alex's journey: Alex kept planning his life.

When, Not If

Cancer changed many things in Alex's life, but it never changed the way he thought about his future.

Alex wasn't a kid who lived his life thinking "if."

For Alex, it was always "when."

One of his greatest passions was Fortnite. Alex played under the name ZXOR, and he didn't see gaming simply as something he did for fun. He wanted to become better, compete at a higher level, and one day become a professional Fortnite player.

For Alex, it was always "when."

ZXOR & Pollo @PolloFN1

There was one player in particular Alex dreamed of playing with: Pollo @PolloFN1, an incredible Fortnite player whom Alex admired.

While Alex was undergoing cancer treatment, Make-A-Wish was working with him and our family on possible wishes. Playing Fortnite with Pollo @PolloFN1 became the last wish Alex asked for.

But there was something very important about that wish.

Alex didn't want Pollo to know he had cancer.

He didn't want sympathy. He didn't want anyone taking it easy on him. And he didn't want to be treated differently because he was sick.

Alex wanted Pollo to know him as ZXOR, another Fortnite player. He wanted the opportunity to play with someone he admired at their best, because Alex wanted to see how he measured up and become a better player himself.

While arrangements through Make-A-Wish were still being worked out, Alex did what Alex had always done: he made another plan.

Through someone in the Fortnite community, Alex found another way to make the connection. He paid $50, kept pursuing the opportunity, and eventually, through his own persistence, Alex got what he had dreamed about.

ZXOR played with Pollo @PolloFN1.

And Alex never told him about his illness.

For that time, Alex wasn't a cancer patient fulfilling a wish. He wasn't the sick kid someone needed to accommodate.

He was ZXOR.

He was a gamer pursuing a dream, playing with someone he respected, and continuing to work toward the future he believed was waiting for him.

He was ZXOR.

Still Planning Tomorrow

In the middle of his cancer treatments, Alex had a late-night conversation about another idea for his future. It began with something Alex already loved: thrifting and vintage clothing.

Alex wanted to create an online company where he and his friends could find and sell vintage clothing. But as he explained the idea, it became clear this wasn't only about starting a business for himself. He was thinking about his friends.

Some of them were having a difficult time finding jobs because they were young and didn't yet have the work experience many employers wanted. Alex saw the problem and started thinking about a solution.

If they couldn't find jobs, maybe they could create something of their own.

That night, a plan was born. Everyone would have a responsibility: promoting the clothing, managing the website, finding vintage pieces, photographing items, and building something together.

And all of this was happening while Alex was fighting cancer.

In the middle of treatments, appointments, medications, scans, and everything cancer had brought into his life, Alex was still planning for tomorrow.

He was thinking about college. He was thinking about business. He was thinking about his friends. He was thinking about what came next.

Looking back, that conversation captures something cancer could never take away from Alex: his expectation of a future.

Alex didn't just love life. He had plans for it.

Alex didn't just love life. He had plans for it.

We Kept Searching

As Alex continued fighting, our family kept searching.

We searched for doctors. We searched for treatments. We searched for clinical trials. We searched for researchers who might understand this incredibly rare disease.

We searched for anything that might give Alex another option. Another treatment. Another chance.

What we discovered was something no family facing childhood cancer should ever have to discover: when a cancer is extremely rare, there may not be enough research, enough treatment options, enough clinical trials, or even enough people studying it.

That reality was especially difficult because Alex himself had always lived differently. When Alex faced a problem, he had another plan.

But when Alex needed backup plans the most, rare cancer gave him too few of them.

Alex deserved more options. Every child does.

Alex deserved more options. Every child does.

June 1, 2026

After more than a year of fighting mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, Alex passed away on June 1, 2026.

There are no words that can fully describe what losing Alex means to the people who love him.

But there is something we know with certainty:

Cancer ended Alex's life. It did not end his story.

His story continues every time someone learns what sarcoma is. It continues every time another family battling childhood cancer realizes they are not alone.

It continues every time we advocate for better research. Every time we ask why there aren't more treatment options. Every time we fight for greater access to clinical trials. Every time we push for more funding and research for rare childhood cancers.

And every time we say his name: Alex.

Cancer ended Alex's life. It did not end his story.

Fueling Hope 4 Cancer grew from Alex's journey and from a promise that his fight would not end with his passing.

We cannot change what happened to Alex. But we can fight to change what happens to the children who come after him.

We want to support families navigating childhood cancer and rare sarcomas while pushing for something much bigger: a future where a child's treatment options are not determined by how common or rare their cancer happens to be.

We will tell Alex's story. We will raise awareness. We will support families. We will advocate. We will ask difficult questions. We will push for better research. We will encourage research into rare cancers like mesenchymal chondrosarcoma. And we will keep showing up.

Because behind every diagnosis, every scan, every clinical trial, and every childhood cancer statistic is someone's child. Someone's grandson. Someone's brother. Someone's best friend. Someone's whole world.

For us, that person is Alex.

Alex taught us what it meant to love life. He taught us to dream. To make plans. To have a backup plan. To care about others. To keep looking forward even when the road ahead becomes unimaginably difficult.

His life changed ours forever. Now we want his life to help change the road for the children and families who come after him.

This is Alex's legacy. This is Fueling Hope 4 Cancer.

And this is why #WeRideWithAlex.