When will this Day be celebrated? August 4th of each calendar year.
What is National OliviaStrong Day? OliviaStrong Day is a celebration of strong, brave and courageous children fighting cancer. National OliviaStrong Day is a way to continue to share Olivia’s story of fighting cancer and bring awareness to a vastly underfunded research program. Our children are our future and we need to find a cure for them!
Why is this Day being created? We are creating this day as an opportunity for our family to give back to those with pediatric cancer needs as our family has been beyond blessed during Olivia’s journey through life. Olivia was born 10 ½ weeks premature with a double aortic arch that kept her hospitalized for the majority of her young life. After multiple heart surgeries and many, many nights spent in the hospital, we were able to have a successful procedure in Boston relieving her of her heart issues.
Throughout the first 6 years of Olivia’s life we were extremely fortunate to be blessed with friends and faithful followers of our family who donated to support our family during a time of need. Very seldom if ever did we need to come out of pocket for medical or essential needs. We can’t begin to imagine our life now without the tremendous support of our family and friends who were so gracious during a tough time in our life.
Here we are 3 years later with Oliva being diagnosed with stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma an aggressive form of pediatric cancer. Doctors say it has nothing to do with her prematurity or heart issues. God chose her for this fight and nobody knows why. Again, our family has been showered with support from so many people, many we’ve never had the pleasure of meeting, or will never meet.
Now it’s our turn to give back, even during Olivia’s fight against cancer.
How should this Day be observed? Olivia loves llamas so what better way to celebrate National OliviaStrong Day by wearing your favorite llama printed attire – shirt, socks, earrings, hat…anything llama! Also celebrate by making donations to OliviaStrong Foundation, Inc. or directly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Who created this Day? This day was created by the OliviaStrong Foundation, Inc. in 2022.