Community Corner

Teen Battling Cancer Still Finds Time to Help Others

Hodgkin's Lymphoma isn't keeping Alex Smith from making the lives of others better.

William Bornhoft's profile picture
William Bornhoft, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

Farmington Hills, MI — Alex Smith is in the midst of his own fight against Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, but still finds the time to make life a little bit easier for others.

Not long after his diagnosis, the 16-year-old decided to provide colorful knapsacks filled with special items for other kids undergoing treatment for cancer. The project even fulfills a requirement to earn his Eagle Scout ranking with the Boy Scouts of America.

The Farmington Observer reports that Smith organized fundraisers and two workdays for the project. With the help of family members and friends, Smith and his team created 150 knapsacks, each packed with a fleece blanket, hat and craft kit.

Find out what's happening in Farmington-Farmington Hillsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

The fundraisers brought in $6,000 — more than twice what was necessary to make the knapsack kits — so the rest of the money was used to purchase an XBox Go Kart, an electronic drum set, acoustic guitar and ukulele for the hospital’s infusion floor.

Read the entire story at hometownlife.com

Image credit: CMRF Crumlin via Flickr / licensed under Creative Commons

Find out what's happening in Farmington-Farmington Hillsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

More from Farmington-Farmington Hills