Oliver's Story

On Jan. 30, 2014, Oliver was playing with his buddy at his friend’s house and fell off a few stairs backward. Instead of hopping right back up, Oliver couldn’t stand up, let alone walk. His mother Anne’s gut feeling told her something was seriously wrong. Normally, he would just stand right back up. She assumed he had a concussion, so she decided to bring him to the hospital. Hours later, after a CT scan, the doctors found a spot of concern, so they suggested Oliver stay overnight in the hospital to have an MRI.

The next day, Oliver had an MRI and confirmed he had a tumor in his brain. “It was the most devastating thing I have ever heard,” said Oliver’s mom, Anne. Prior to his diagnosis, Oliver did have, what now his parents would confirm, symptoms a brain tumor. Before confirming his tumor, his mother planned to bring Oliver to the eye doctor for some small issues he was having. Other symptoms included being unstable, nausea and more.

On Feb. 4, Oliver had surgery to remove the tumor. He was in the hospital for nine days. After this, Oliver underwent 30 days of radiation followed by nine chemotherapy treatments. “One of the worst things was knowing that these treatments haven’t been changed in twenty some odd years and knowing what this is doing to my child’s body. Even though, yes, it is saving him, in one aspect, but it is also damaging him as well. The hardest part was seeing that lack of little boy, he had to grow up pretty quickly,” Anne said. Oliver finished chemotherapy on April 14, 2014. He is currently in remission and cancer-free, but is monitored routinely.

On Sept. 5, Oliver turned 8 years old, and he is in second grade. Oliver likes to hang out with his friends, read, play baseball, soccer and the WII. Oliver’s family are huge advocates for child brain cancer and heavily involved in Team Jack Foundation. As of March 2017, Oliver is still cancer free.