Lexi Brown had been diagnosed with cancer, but the disease didn’t diminish her love of pizza.
The seventh-grader had been having a few bad weeks. The chemotherapy she was getting to treat her fibroblastic sarcoma (cancer of the connective tissue) had caused her heart to stop. And now, although she was in the hospital battling for her life, she couldn’t beat the craving for a cheesy slice.
Lexi decided to hang a sign in her hospital room window asking for pizza delivery. What happened next, however, caught everyone off-guard.
Turns out Lexi’s room faced the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity at UCLA. When the college boys spotted her plea for ‘za, they decided to fulfill her request— along with something much better.
The SAE fraternity tracked down Lexi’s room in the hospital and arrived bearing pizza, guitars, roses and more.
According to the Love What Matters Facebook page, Lexi’s mother Lisa recalled the event, saying:
“Five guys come in, and they had a guitar and a dozen roses and a box of pizza. They introduced themselves and said, ‘We saw your sign; we’re here.'”
“They stayed for half an hour, they sang this song and I started bawling my head off. I’m like, ‘I can’t believe these people are here for my child.'”
Here’s a quick snippet from the video that Lexi’s father sent us. Words cannot describe how we feel right now. pic.twitter.com/O8LBqHFoH6
— California Delta ΣAE (@UCLA_SAE) November 5, 2015
Chase Gasper, an SAE member, was also a player on the UCLA men’s soccer team.
After discovering soccer was Lexi’s favorite sport, he reached out to other players. They gifted the girl with jerseys, t-shirts, hats, and tickets.
Chase later revealed:
“I texted my teammates and they all stepped up to the plate to visit her. Everyone who got to know her was really moved. It was an incredible experience and we really want her to get through it.”
“When we played our game, we kind of played with an extra edge. We really wanted to win for her, and we did.”
But, over the weekend, the boys decided to do even more. When they visited Lexi the following week, they asked her to look outside the hospital window.
The boys had put the cancer patient’s name over their roof in lights, so she could see it when she looked outside. The girl told CBS News:
“They had me turn around and look at the lights, and I saw my name over the roof.”
“I thought it was really cool. I didn’t think that would ever happen.”
When the world caught wind of the boys’ actions, the story immediately went viral.
But SAE fraternity member Christian Wehrly said kind actions are all just a part of the SAE creed:
“One of our creeds is being a true gentleman, and that’s following through and making sure that we can do everything we can.”
Sadly, Lexi passed away in May of 2016, after doctors revealed there was nothing more they could do to help her. Before her death, however, she raised nearly $90,000 for pediatric cancer research, and her father Jon says she was at peace: “We would like people to know that Lexi passed away comfortably, on her own terms.”
“She did not suffer in the end.”
“She passed away knowing how very loved she was.”
Hear her story below.
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