Super Day for Justin Blackmon’s Super Fan
Olivia Hamilton has completed treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
This isn’t a blog post about sports.
But it is about triumph.
Today — Jan. 11, 2012 — marks the last day of chemotherapy for Olivia Hamilton. The sports world knows her as the cancer patient who has become buddies with Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon. We’ve told her story. ESPN has told her story.
No doubt she’s the best-known fourth grader in Sperry.
But all of that is a side note today. Olivia is finally done with treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and when I say finally, I mean finally.
She did 108 weeks of treatment.
One hundred and eight.
That’s more than two years of treatment, of going to the hospital once a week for radiation or chemotherapy, of having to endure the side effects of the drugs that were killing the cancer but that sometimes nearly did her in. There have been dozens of stays in the hospital, these past few years for everything from kidney failure to mouth sores to broken bones.
It’s been hell for a little girl who has faced it all with an iron will and a smile as big as the Oklahoma sky.
(She posted a picture on her Facebook page early this morning flashing that smile. She also had a hand-painted sign: Last Chemo.)
And now, the treatment is done.
Sometime this afternoon, Olivia will ring a bell at the pediatric cancer unit at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa. Every patient who completes their treatment gets to ring that bell. It’s a celebration of what they’ve accomplished. It’s a moment that everyone has a chance to enjoy.
Here’s hoping that Olivia, with that big smile on her face, rings that bell as loud and long as they’ll let her.
You deserve it, Liv.
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Comments
Great work Olivia! We love you and are happy you are doing better. You are one tough young lady and you have inspired the Oklahoma State University family to reach a 12 win season. God Bless you and Mr. Blackmon, we will never forget this year, you are a very big part of it! The future looks good with young people like you and I believe this is only the beginning of greater things to come! Also, thank you Jenni for this story. You are a class act and do a great job! Looking forward to 2012 and Go Pokes!
What an inspiration!!