St. Jude patients Olivia and
Natalie, both 13 and diagnosed
with bone cancer.
St. Jude to relieve Bobbie, so she could travel home to
see her husband and three other children. And Stacy
mentioned that her mom was taking Natalie for an MRI
due to a knee injury at cheerleading. “With Olivia’s stuff
going on, I didn’t want to take any chances,” she said.
Bobbie would only be home for one night, with worry
on her heart.
Natalie’s MRI did not show the obvious malignancy
of Olivia’s. It could possibly have been a bone infection.
But a biopsy proved Natalie had osteosarcoma—same as
Olivia—in her right tibia.
When Stacy got the call about Olivia, she’d thought,
“This can’t be real.” When she learned about Natalie, she
thought, “How is this even possible? God would not do
this to me, both of my girls.”
When Bobbie learned the news, she was determined
that Natalie needed to be at St. Jude, too. In a matter of
days, she was.
When it wasn’t difficult or nauseating or painful,
according to the girls, cancer treatment was “a lot of just
laying around.” After limb-saving surgery, in which the
affected area of bone was removed from each girl’s leg
and replaced with a rod, neither of them could walk for
eight weeks.
Closer than ever
The stepsisters have successfully finished treatment
and gone home cancer-free. Olivia has already passed
the first anniversary of her diagnosis — a date delivering
a mixed bag of feelings. As much as the girls are the same
people they were before, the fact is they were plucked
from their regular lives and set on a path they had to
follow, and at the end, it has opened up a different view.
“I had to suck it up and get over it and keep going,” said
Olivia. “I want to live a long life and a healthy life. I didn’t
want to be sick, but I was sick, so I had to learn to live
with it and learn to be happy with it. It took a while.”
“I think Olivia appreciates everything a lot more now,”
said Bobbie. “The way the sky looks, her little brother’s
laugh, the way food tastes.”
These families hope their story, while jaw-dropping,
will also be eye-opening. “People always say, ‘This is so
weird,’” said Bobbie, who replies, “Yeah. But you know,
there’s more childhood cancer than anybody realizes.”
The USAPA realizes that and since its partnership with
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital began in 2016,
the organization has raised over $80,000, with a fervent
desire to continue to help families in need. •
APRIL/MAY 2020 |
MAGAZINE
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