Alexandra Miyoko Ross
Achiever, blogger, sister, daughter, cousin. Born on July 9, 1988, in Toronto; died on July 26, 2014, in Toronto, of bone marrow failure due to secondary bone cancer, aged 26.
Alex learned to drive in downtown Toronto. She refused to let other motorists butt into her lane when they hadn't waited their turn. She might have seemed a little hard-nosed on this, but it reflected her sense of right and wrong. It was also a sign of her stubborn bullheadedness.
She was a precocious child. When she was just over a year old, she would sit alone and turn the pages of a book. The book – reinforced with tape – illustrated places around the world and all the things you could see. Thus a traveller was born.
She was also a Lego lover and a fan of make believe. She endlessly bossed around her younger sister Johnna and her bemused cousins to act out the elaborate stories she dreamed up.
Not a natural athlete, Alex took swimming lessons from the age of 5. She struggled to learn every stroke but her determination led her to become a lifeguard and a National Lifeguard Service instructor at the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre.
She loved books from childhood, and wanted to be an author. But she ended up earning a degree in international studies at Glendon College, York University. She was president of the school's Model UN club and headed a team to organize the 2011 annual symposium about the island of Hispaniola. This led to a trip in 2011 to Dominican Republic, where the group toured the island with Canada's then-ambassador, Todd Kuiack.
For six months from 2009 to 2010, Alex volunteered with the not-for-profit organization Canada World Youth and lived in Gibsons, B.C., and the township of Khayelitsha, South Africa. There, she volunteered with an HIV/AIDS organization called Olive Leaf, working with a prevention team. There were educational events to organize, pamphlets to fold, issues to dissect. It challenged her and created a new awareness about the world.
While attending university, she spent several summers working as a production assistant on the Discovery Channel program Cash Cab. She thrived on the unknowns of the working day and the tight bond of the group in the show's "chase van."
In April, 2012, at the age of 23, Alex was diagnosed with colon cancer. She was told she was one in a million, because that is the odds of having the disease at that young age.
Despite her illness, and endless chemotherapy, Alex took a course in disaster management at Ryerson University in Toronto. She learned to crochet. And she found a new job, working as an international trips co-ordinator with Me to We, a for-profit social enterprise. She was only able to be part of the organization for six months, but it was a time of building meaningful friendships and meaningful work – both of which were so important to her. Alex needed to contribute.
Perhaps her most vital contribution was her online blog, which she titled "Is this your first colonoscopy?" She became a writer after all, voicing a young person's journey through cancer with humour, grace and integrity.
Alex was an achiever but she also deeply valued the pleasures of life. She loved seafood, brunch and red wine. She loved trips with extended family to Hawaii, South Carolina and on a Caribbean cruise. She loved our big old dog, Tucker. Her life was filled with challenges and accomplishments and, right until the end, she had plans for much more. She is missed.
Carole Ito is Alex's mother.