The Clanton Advertiser

Family and friends of Logan Pledger will use the lemons life handed them last year to make lemonade for a cause July 21.

Son remembered: Logan Pledger passed away on Dec. 2, 2011.

Sara and William Pledger, Logan’s parents, will host an Alex’s Lemonade Stand (Foundation of Childhood Cancer) outside of Piggly Wiggly in Jemison in honor of their late son’s birthday.

Logan, a student at Thorsby, was diagnosed at age 9 with T-Cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) on Jan. 5, 2011.

Over the next 11 months, Logan had six relapses and received treatment at three different hospitals in three states.

As he was recovering from pneumonia, Logan suffered a brain bleed on Nov. 9. He passed away on Dec. 2.

“He needed to get a bone marrow transplant,” Sara Pledger said. “We just weren’t able to get him into the remission he needed to be in, in order to get that. He’s greatly loved and missed.”

According to Pledger, about 46 children are diagnosed with a form of childhood cancer every day, and about seven die from it.

“It’s the least funded of all cancers,” she said. “It’s really important to support an organization that specifically targets childhood cancer because it’s greatly needed.”

All proceeds from the Pledgers’ lemonade stand will benefit childhood cancer research.

Donations can also be made online, in honor or in memory of Logan or another child.

Logan’s Birthday Lemonade Stand will serve from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Pledger said she thought Logan would like the lemonade stand since his favorite place to be was outdoors.

“It being summertime, we thought it fitting to do a lemonade stand outside,” Pledger said. “We moved from Michigan two years ago. We used to go to a park in Michigan on his birthday, and it was his favorite.”

To make a donation online, visit www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/85564.