Cancer is a chapter in Olivia’s life, but it’s not the full story

Olivia is known for her low-key vibe.

Her dad, Aaron, says she’s an old soul. 

Her mom, Fanisha, admits that Olivia’s take-it-as-it-comes attitude comes from her.

“We get called unbothered a lot. It’s not that nothing phases us. We just roll with the punches,” she said. “I always tell her to take it day by day. We can’t try to control everything.” 

So, when Olivia became a patient at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, she faced each day with resilience.

“I told her, she’s my hero,” Fanisha said.

Her journey began in 2023, when Olivia, then 10, woke up one morning with a pain in her right knee. Fanisha, who also has an 18-year-old son and is an experienced mother, thought it might just be growing pains.

Olivia’s doctor in Arkansas referred her to a sports medicine clinic that prescribed medication, exercises and a knee brace. When she went back for a check-up the next month and the pain had gone away, they all thought that was the end of it. 

But, about a month later, she was back at the clinic in more pain. With Olivia’s knee, now swollen and hot to the touch, her doctor ordered an MRI.

Fanisha, then a 4th grade math and science teacher, was in class when the doctor called with the results.

Olivia had an abnormal growth in the bone of her right leg that looked like cancer.

“I ran out of the room so I could get a little privacy, so I could take everything in,” Fanisha said. “I think I cried and screamed so much my face was hurting.” 

She immediately called Olivia’s dad.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

A few weeks earlier, Olivia had asked to be baptized.

“I’d been wanting to do it for a long time,” she said. “But I just felt like I needed to do it right then.” 

Fanisha and Aaron decided to wait until after her baptism to tell her about the MRI results. Aaron took Olivia to his home church in Texas where she was baptized.

They told her afterward.

A biopsy confirmed she had osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer in children and teens. She began treatment in September of 2023 in Arkansas before moving to Memphis where her dad was living. She continued treatment at St. Jude in October.

It helped, Fanisha said, that one of her best friends, someone who is in Olivia’s life, had also been diagnosed with cancer as a child and was treated at St. Jude.  

“That kind of calmed Olivia down. And that calmed me down too, knowing someone,” she said.

Immediately, they felt cocooned within the warmth at St. Jude.

“Being in the St. Jude bubble, I said my baby’s going to be OK,” Fanisha said.

There was a sense of reassurance from Olivia’s care team and in meeting patient families who had already taken this same journey, she said. 

St. Jude has been their “biggest blessing,” Aaron said.

“I’m very thankful, very, very thankful,” Fanisha said.

“Once I found out about all the good things that St. Jude has to offer, that took a big load off my shoulders. A big load,” she said.

Olivia’s cancer treatment included chemotherapy and limb-sparing surgery. Historically, amputation of the affected arm or leg was common for children with bone cancer like osteosarcoma. St. Jude has been a pioneer in limb-sparing surgeries for children like Olivia, which aims to remove and replace the cancerous portion of bone while keeping a functioning arm or leg. 

Olivia has had some challenges after her cancer treatment, including infections that followed her surgery. She still returns to St. Jude for follow-up appointments, but there is now no evidence of cancer.

Now 12, Olivia is an accomplished artist who speaks about gradient shades of blue, her favorite color, as she paints.

She’s finished sixth grade and is now in seventh.

Before her cancer, Olivia played volleyball, but after her treatment she couldn’t return to the court. She still found ways to be active in school. 

Olivia was one of the students to make morning announcements, ran for student council and was elected 6th grade representative. It was an opportunity to help others.

“We had a food drive. We collected cans to give to the less fortunate. We did a healthy hygiene skit to teach little kids about hygiene to get rid of germs,” she said.

She’s enjoying 7th grade, a new school, but not necessarily junior high school math. 

Both of Olivia’s parents remind her she is more than her diagnosis. 

“I want her to know that just because she had cancer, it doesn’t define her,” Fanisha said. “It’s a part of her but it doesn’t define her.”

“I told Olivia this is going to be a little tweak in life, a scar. You might walk a little different. But hey, life is going to still be life,” Aaron said. “People who have not dealt with stuff like this still have to deal with stuff. We’ve got to take it on the chin and keep pumping.”