‘American Idol’ Alum Alex Nester Opens Up About Surviving Cancer

In the issue, the “American Idol” alum, who appeared on Season 9, opens up about surviving cancer and how she is helping to give back with her #BurnItDown fundraiser!

Nester was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma at just 16 years old, and she believes it gave her a “special and unique perspective on things.”

She added, “I feel it has opened my heart to love deeper, care greater, and take greater risks. I've been to that very, very dark place where you think it's over. I understand what it's like to feel that scared and helpless and alone.”

Luckily, her now-husband Eddy was there every step of the way.

They had only been dating for four months when she was diagnosed, but Alex says, “He visited me at the hospital every day and always told me I was beautiful and made me smile. Later in life someone had asked him what made him stay with me when most guys would have turned tail and ran. His response was, 'No matter what, I wasn't going to leave my friend.'”

Even now she describes him as “my best friend, my rock, my home, and my place to land when life gets hard or crazy.”

Nester, who released the single “Love.Always.Wins” last year, is helping others fight cancer with her fourth annual #BurnItDown fundraiser taking place at Borderline in Thousand Oaks, CA on July 28.

Nester told Lapalme, “We are completely volunteer-run, so every penny that comes in will go to the Marcelle Erian Cancer Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to directly helping cancer patients and their families.”