Ten-year-old Alexa Kohler swatted a ball from Kris Wilkes as they crossed the finish line together.
He dropped the ball.
“Ah, turnover,” said the UCLA men’s basketball sophomore guard.
Alexa ran to retrieve the ball – something she couldn’t have done five years ago.
While Dribble for the Cure participants raise money by collecting pledges from friends and family, Alexa sets up a lemonade stand every year to the raise money herself. Alexa battled brain cancer for a year in 2013, and has since participated in UCLA’s annual event.
“We do some other (events) like Make-A-Wish (Foundation), and those go to really good causes,” said her father Pete Kohler. “But this is one of the only ones we really like and come back to (every year) because the money is going to doctors for research to come up with better treatments.”
Anything to improve medical advancement in pediatric cancer research has been a priority for the Kohler family. Karrie Kohler, Alexa’s mother, said it took nearly a year to confirm Alexa’s diagnosis.
At first, doctors told the family that her frequent stomachaches and headaches were due to allergies. Then they said getting her tonsils removed would solve the problem.
But it didn’t.