Young Cancer Survivor Wins Scholarship To Become Doctor, Help Others

Alexandra Solowinska, 18, of Mattituck was once a young girl fighting cancer.

Today, she is a young woman poised to begin her college career and become a doctor, so that she can help others fighting the deadly disease in her battle.

Solowinska, who said she is grateful to the Stony Brook UniversityCancer Center for helping her fight cancer, has won a scholarship that will help her pursue her dream of becoming a doctor at Stony Brook University School of Medicine.

 Solowinska, daughter of Elizabeth and Arkadiusz Solowinska, is one of 24 pediatric oncology patients who received the Daniel Brooks Memorial Educational Awards, which were presented in a ceremony hosted on Aug. 9 by the division of pediatric hematology/oncology at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. 

A graduate of Mattituck-Cutchogue junior/senior high chool, she will attend Stony Brook University in the fall.

Solowinska addressed the audience and shared what Stony Brook has meant to her.

“Despite having to receive chemotherapy here, I consider Stony Brook my home, and the doctors and nurses part of my family,” she said.

 The Daniel Brooks Memorial Education awards are given each year to students who have been treated forcancer at Stony Brook Cancer Center to help fund their education at a college or trade school. Established in 2003, the awards are supported through the Sunrise Fund, which was created in 1999 to raise awareness and funds for pediatric hematology/oncology programs at Stony Brook Children’s. Since its inception, the awards have totaled $180,000 in support for students.

The awards were established in memory of Daniel Brooks of Port Jefferson, who was treated for leukemia at the Cancer Center as a teenager in the 1990s. Following his treatment, Brooks obtained a degree in special education.