written by her Mother: Carla Ceraolo
Olivia was born in Dunedin, Florida on Sept 9, 1988. She was the oldest of three
children. Her brother Ian was born twenty months later. Her sister, Julia, is four and a
half years younger.
Olivia attended Palm Harbor Montessori, Cypress Woods Elementary and
Ridgecrest Elementary Center for the Gifted Studies. By the end of her eighth grade
year at Tarpon Springs Middle School, she was diagnosed with bone cancer. She went
on to complete the ninth grade at East Lake High School through the Hospital/
Homebound program.
For many years Olivia was involved in ballet, the local soccer and softball teams and the
Lansbrook swim club for many summers. A violinist with the Pinellas Youth Symphony,
she was also an award winning author and talented artist.
Most importantly, Olivia’s true love and passion was sailing. She learned to sail at the
Clearwater Community Sailing Center at age eight and went on to join the Clearwater
Yacht Club Youth Sailing Team. She began with the Optimist. Regattas and racing
brought many wonderful friendships. She was a top US sailor; the summer before her
diagnosis, she competed in Bermuda as a member of the National Optimist Team. She
went on to sail the larger Laser Radial, another single-handed dinghy, in which she
enjoyed the freedom and exhilaration of being on the water at practices and regattas.
She had just started to enjoy the independence of the unique, teenage sailing
community. It was clear from pieces that she wrote, that sailing gave her real joy and
became part of her heart and soul.
She fell in love with Annapolis and had dreams of joining the Naval Academy. And she
was asked to join the Stanford University’s sailing team once she graduated. She won
an essay contest entitled “Why I Will Always Sail” and the prize was a week stay for our
family at a fantastic sailing resort in Antigua, during the summer of 2002.
On May 8, 2003, at fourteen years and a half years old, Olivia was given the surreal
diagnosis of bone cancer (osteosarcoma), inoperable in her case due to the size and
location in her pelvis and sacrum. She had complained of pain for a few months and
was seen by her doctor and chiropractors, who believed it to be a sports injury. An
extremely healthy child and teen, who had never been hospitalized, cancer was never
suspected. Osteosarcoma is very rare, with only a few children per one million being
diagnosed each year in the US alone. It seems to often occur along with sports injuries
and when young people are experiencing growth spurts.
Olivia underwent months of chemotherapy treatments at All Children’s Hospital in St.
Petersburg, in hopes of shrinking the tumor. She fought extremely hard during many
setbacks, with horrific infections, reactions and trips to the ICU. This period was
followed by a trip to the Mayo Clinic In Minnesota, to meet with experts on her type of
cancer and the top orthopedic oncology surgeon in the country. They agreed that the
tumor still remained inoperable and that she could not survive an amputation, which is
what is often done to help try to save osteosarcoma patients. So they devised an
intensive radiation plan, which was implemented through Shands Hospital in
Gainesville, Florida. Twice a day for six weeks Olivia received radiation treatments only
and began to get stronger as the tumor was dying, according to the doctors. She did
endure three more rounds of chemotherapy and the scans showed promise in the
beginning of the summer. By the end of the August, 2004 she was given the devastating
news that the cancer had spread like wildfire everywhere in her abdomen and nothing
more could be done to cure her. The doctors themselves could not believe they were
looking at the same patient from the previous scan.
No more treatments. Hospice became part of our family surroundings at home to help
with her with care and comfort.
Throughout the seventeen months, Olivia continued to maintain a positive, fighting
spirit, believing that she would be cured. On October 16, 2004, just a month after
turning sixteen, her life’s journey came to a peaceful end at home.
Olivia became very wise about what was truly important in life. During the entire time of
her illness she was an incredible inspiration to family, friends and many others. Her life
changing experience has transcended time. Olivia was extremely passionate about
communicating her “message” to as many people as possible. This was her desperate
wish to share with everyone.
Please read "MY MESSAGE TO YOU" on the home page.
Carla Ceraolo