A former competitive wakeboarder, Alexa Score is one of the busiest people you’ll ever meet. From her work as a producer and on-camera talent for three outdoor shows as well as working for the Minnesota Vikings and appearing in Zac Brown Band videos, she is living her best life—especially when you consider she has been battling chronic myeloid leukemia since the age of 16. We caught up with her about her life on the water and her efforts to help other childhood cancer victims through the Surf to Save Lives event benefitting St. Jude’s Children’s Research hospital.
You grew up on Green Lake in Minnesota. How did you get involved in watersports and wakeboarding?
My family wasn’t really involved in watersports, but I got involved in the Little Crow Ski Team when I was nine. I was a swivel skier and even stood on the top of a 42-person pyramid. I have the bumps and bruises to prove it.
I got started wakeboarding when my older sister came home from college and started doing it on the lake with her friends. I started realizing I could be competitive when I won the women’s amateur national title at the WWA Nationals in 2011 when I’d really only competed a couple of times.
You were first diagnosed with leukemia at age 16. How did that change your life in general and your passion for wakeboarding?
There was a period of nine months where I struggled to get out of bed or do basic things like just walk down the stairs. Then when I turned 17, when I started feeling better, I graduated early from high school and said, “I’m moving to Orlando and nobody can stop me.” I found healing and passion in competitive wakeboarding and being on the water. I didn’t know how long I had to live and with my prognosis. I was literally riding the wave.
Are you now in remission?
I’m not in remission. I still take an oral chemo medication every day and see an oncologist every three months. I’m very fortunate—there are a lot of people under the same circumstances who can’t work and struggle on a daily basis.
What is your involvement with Surf to Save Lives?
I’ve been partnered with MasterCraft for three years now and this our second year doing the Surf to Save Lives event. From May 22 to October 1, all you have to do to participate is download the MasterCraft Connect app—it doesn’t matter what kind of boat you have. When you’re on the water participating in any kind of towed watersport—tubing, kneeboarding, waterskiing, wakeboarding, surfing—for every minute you log on the app, MasterCraft will donate $1 to St. Jude’s [up to $75,000.] All you have to do is log in while doing something you love.
I attribute a lot of my success to the first pediatric doctor I had. The drug I’ve been taking since I was 17 to stay alive was new back then. Now, thanks to research, there are five drugs to help people like me. St. Jude’s is on the cutting edge of care and research to help kids who have cancer.
You no longer compete, but do you still get out on the water?
Watersports was my first passion and still is my number one passion. When I’m home in Minnesota during the season, I spend every free minute on the water (I just got my new MasterCraft XT24 yesterday) taking friends and family wakeboarding and wakesurfing. I also still swivel ski and foil. It’s all about having fun on the water and creating memories.
