Meet Olivia: 2024 Scholar
Our College Scholars receive a financial scholarship to help with academic expenses, and each scholar commits to undertaking a volunteer project of their choosing related to childhood cancer advocacy, with support and mentorship from the Children's Cancer Cause team.
Olivia’s Story
Olivia was diagnosed with Wilms tumor just weeks after her second birthday. The toddler began an intensive regimen of chemotherapy for six months, accompanied by chronic neuropathy, upper respiratory infections, and countless trips to the emergency room.
“After chemotherapy, two surgeries, and months of fear, I was cancer free. According to my medical team, I was a medical miracle,” she told us. “However, my treatment wasn’t over. Years following my treatment, I experienced chronic kidney infections, post-traumatic stress disorder, and neuromuscular pain - primarily attributed to the toxicity of the treatments I received.”
Olivia’s now passionate about biomedical research and spent all four years of high school conducting independent pharmacology research focused on UV radiation exposure and new methods of medication consumption. She’s already worked with research teams at the NIH and Children's National Medical Center, and she has another research job lined up for the summer before starting college.
“Each successful experiment tells a tale of what was once scientific uncertainty, representing lost opportunities among the children that came before me,” she said. “With each new finding, I envision a child ringing the bell to remission: a life preserved.”
Olivia begins college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the fall of 2024, where she plans to continue studying biomedical engineering.
“While my fight will likely extend through my life, I choose not to let cancer define me. Instead, I use it as a medium for action: my experiences in the hospital have fostered within me an innate passion for biomedical research.”
Olivia’s Advocacy Project
As a young child in treatment, Olivia took great comfort in art.
“I was captivated by a table graffitied with blots of marker and paint. To a child fighting cancer, the sense of community fostered by the art table is indescribable,” she shared with us, adding that the art table can have a huge impact on a child’s psychological and social development.
“Complex medical challenges like cancer can be isolating and unpredictable. The art table created a sense of normalcy in such a traumatic environment.”
For her volunteer project, Olivia plans to collect art supplies on campus and in the community for donation to local children’s hospitals. She also wants to create care packages of supplies for children who are too ill or immunocompromised to join in the clinic’s community art room.
“Understanding the positive impact that art has had on my life while fighting cancer, I hope to extend this to other children. Ultimately, by establishing art rooms in pediatric inpatient wards or replenishing their supplies, I believe the long-term outcomes for children fighting cancer can be greatly improved,” Olivia said.