Updated

Three months after Alexandra Scott (search) died of cancer at age 8, her goal of raising $1 million for cancer research this year by selling lemonade has been surpassed.

Alexandra's parents said Tuesday that the 2004 total probably will be close to $1.5 million, which the Alex's Lemonade Stand (search) foundation will donate to cancer-research institutions, as it has done since Alex set up her charity four years ago.

Officials at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (search), where Alex was treated, said they have expanded research and experimental medication programs because of the little girl's charity.

"We believed in Alex," said her mother, Liz Scott. "We believed in her dream. But most of all, Alex believed in herself."

Shortly before she died of cancer on Aug. 1, Alex told her parents that her new goal for 2005 was to raise $5 million. Her parents are now seeking continued financial support from individuals and companies.

"We are confident we can succeed, knowing Alex's spirit is with us," said her father, Jay Scott.

Alex was diagnosed the day before her first birthday with neuroblastoma (search), an aggressive form of childhood cancer. She set up a lemonade stand in 2000 in front of her suburban Philadelphia home. She took in $2,000 that first year, and $200,000 through 2003.

In June, lemonade stand fund-raisers were set up in all 50 states, as well as in Canada and France, and Alex and her family appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Today." Even as her energy waned, Alex insisted on doing interviews to reach her goal of raising $1 million, her father said.

Neuroblastoma is diagnosed in about 700 U.S. children every year. The survival rate for high-risk neuroblastoma, which Alex had, is 40 percent.