Penny Alexander

My name is Jesse and I have created a GoFundMe on behalf of my aunt, Penny Alexander. My aunt Penny has spent her entire life in Sioux Falls, SD taking care of others and putting the needs of others before her own.

To know Penny is to love Penny and she has always been a beacon of love, faith, positivity, and hope. Penny is married to the love of her life, Doug, and they’ve spent the last 30 years raising 5 children, while also looking after not only myself but numerous other cousins while we grew up along with her kids. As us kids grew up, her family expanded and she’s now a proud grandmother of 16 grandkids. Penny has spent the last 35+ years growing and nurturing the lives of other people’s children at her daycare business.

In December of 2021 Penny discovered a tumor on her kidney and was given the diagnosis that it was cancer. Later in December 2021 Penny underwent an operation to remove her kidney and the post-operative scans showed that the cancer was localized only to her kidney and further treatment would be determined upon the results of her next scan.

Penny’s next scan was completed in December of 2022 and on Friday December 23, she was given the news that her scan results were in and that she was still cancer free. Elated and grateful from the news, Penny celebrated Christmas with her family and loved ones.

Until the call she received on Monday December 26…Penny received a phone call with the devastating announcement that she had been misinformed and she was not cancer free. In fact, her cancer had spread, and she now had tumors on her liver, lungs, on her abdomen and the cancer had also returned to the original kidney site.

Penny began to aggressively attack the cancer with immunotherapy treatments in February and March 0f 2023 with crippling side effects to include causing new and additional damage to Penny’s liver and remaining kidney. This entire time, Penny has somehow found the strength and stamina to keep her daycare open and even manage to schedule her appointments and treatments around the work schedules of the parents of the children that attend her daycare.

To put it simple: when you’re fighting cancer you’re fighting for your life. It’s not just the disease that is debilitating, but also the treatments to fight the disease and the side effects from the treatments. Penny has been forced to put her treatments on pause due to the damage caused to her liver and to also allow her body to heal. She’s also been forced to scale back and possibly close her daycare business to focus on her health; this has put an obvious strain on Penny and Doug’s finances.

When I first brought up the idea of doing a GoFundMe, Penny’s response was “I don’t know how to accept donations, can we give the donations to someone else?” Eventually, Penny accepted that it’s her turn to rely on the help and love from others. This response is typical of Penny and is a true reflection of her faith, as shown in Proverbs 11:25:

“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.’

Any donation is appreciated and will help with continued medical expenses and hopefully allow Penny to take some well-deserved time off to focus on herself and treatment.