An 8-year-old girl in West Roseville spent her birthday this month raising money for other children fighting cancer, the same disease she was diagnosed with on her own fifth birthday. Rubi, who has since completed treatment, set up a lemonade stand to support families dealing with childhood cancer, drawing a visit from local sheriff's deputies who stopped by to buy a cup and cheer her on.
According to the Placer County Sheriff's Office, deputies personally visited Rubi's lemonade stand on Saturday to support her mission and purchase lemonade directly from the young survivor. The agency's post described her as celebrating her eighth birthday while dedicating the occasion to helping other kids going through the same fight she once faced. Rubi wished to help other children going through cancer treatment, and the money raised at her stand went toward supporting children and families facing childhood cancer, per the same post.
The visit came from deputies who patrol a rapidly growing stretch of South Placer County. Placer County established a new West Placer Sheriff's Station last September specifically to improve deputy response times and expand local services for the booming communities of West Roseville, Rocklin, and Lincoln, according to Placer County. That expanded presence has put deputies in closer contact with neighborhood events like Rubi's stand.
A National Tradition Rooted In One Child's Fight
Rubi's fundraiser echoes a movement that began more than two decades ago. The idea of young cancer patients running lemonade stands to fund pediatric cancer research traces back to 2000, when 4-year-old Alexandra “Alex” Scott started her own stand, an effort that eventually grew into Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation and has raised more than $300 million nationwide, according to the Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. Scott continued hosting stands annually until her death at age 8 in 2004.
That legacy underscores why grassroots fundraising still matters even as treatment has improved dramatically. Five-year survival rates for childhood cancer in the United States have climbed to roughly 85%, up sharply from 58% in the mid-1970s, per the American Cancer Society. Yet cancer remains the leading disease-related cause of death among children ages 1 to 19 nationwide, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Where Local Families Turn For Treatment
The American Cancer Society projects that about 9,680 children under 15 will be diagnosed with cancer nationwide this year. In California, the childhood cancer incidence rate runs at approximately 18.2 new diagnoses per 100,000 children ages 0 to 19, based on state public health surveillance compiled by Kidsdata.org. The state tracks these cases through the California Cancer Registry, which monitors 12 major diagnostic categories, with leukemia and central nervous system tumors representing the most common pediatric diagnoses statewide, per the California Department of Public Health.
Families in the Roseville and Placer County area, including Rubi's, typically rely on major Sacramento medical centers for specialized pediatric cancer treatment. UC Davis Children's Hospital operates the region's comprehensive pediatric oncology unit serving South Placer patients, according to UC Davis Health. Sutter Children's Center in Sacramento also provides inpatient pediatric oncology care and Child Life support programs, which offer therapeutic play and coping strategies, to thousands of young patients from the surrounding region.
It remains unclear how much money Rubi's stand raised or which specific charity or hospital will receive the proceeds. It's also unknown whether the Placer County Sheriff's Office plans further recognition for Rubi or additional community events with her family, though the department's visit signaled its support for her cause.
