The Alex Lieber Memorial Scholarship
Alexander Scott Lieber was born in South Miami, Florida on January 22, 1986, and was diagnosed with severe hemophilia A. There was no history of hemophilia in either of his parents' families. Despite the challenges presented by his disorder, including the many daily injections that Alex would eventually learn to administer, hemophilia never dismayed or stopped him.
Intelligent and inquisitive, Alex was fascinated by the world, especially by electrical light. At age five, he assembled a free-standing kitchen set for his two-year-old sister and included a special touch: battery-powered lights in every room, a little working ceiling fan, and a tiny light that turned on when the toy refrigerator door was opened!
By the time he was a teenager, Alex's room was littered with the remains of electronic toys he had disassembled for spare parts. His parents thought he would become an electrical engineer. In high school, Alex was the official sound and lighting engineer for all of his school's auditorium functions. At age sixteen, he even renovated a 1963 Vespa scooter.
Along with his love of all things electric, Alex also loved being a comrade and mentor to his fellow campers at Camp Ailihpomeh, at Camp John Marc in Meridian, Texas. This weeklong summer camp for kids with hemophilia allowed Alex and his camp-mates to enjoy many of the activities that children with hemophilia must sometimes avoid to prevent a bleed.
When Alex reached the maximum camping age, he volunteered to become a camp counselor and was accepted into the camp's leadership program. This meant that at age 18 he would be able to counsel other kids. Alex couldn't wait to continue at John Marc as a hemophilia camp counselor. But he never got the chance.
On Saturday, December 13, 2003, at 1:45 in the morning, Alex's mother Tammy was awakened by three bangs on the wall that separated Alex's room from his parents'. Although Alex had been diagnosed a few days earlier with only a sinus infection, his parents found him unresponsive when they ran to his room.
Paramedics arrived and immediately got to work to save Alex. At the hospital, his fever spiked: a spinal tap concluded that Alex had bacterial meningitis. He was taken immediately to the ICU, but despite his doctors' efforts and the love and prayers of his family and friends, Alex Lieber passed away on December 21, 2003, just four days before Christmas.
Alex was buried on December 26, and although it was the day after Christmas, more than 250 friends, teachers, neighbors and relatives attended his funeral. Many told stories of Alex repairing their household appliances and other broken electrical and mechanical devices — just to learn what made them work.
Alex's passing is a heartbreaking loss to his family and friends, to the hemophilia community, and to the world. Given the talent and intelligence of this unique young man, it's tragic that we will never know what he might have accomplished as an adult. To honor Alex's legacy, the recipient of this scholarship for higher education must be a person with hemophilia or von Willebrand disease who, like Alex, is committed to community service and can demonstrate this commitment. Alex Lieber will be greatly missed, but through this scholarship, we hope that his inquisitive spirit and his tradition of caring will live on.
