Teen with Cancer Racing the Clock To Raise $350,000 for Life Saving Procedure

By Amanda Thomason June 23, 2018 at 7:59am

Olivia Stoy was only 12 years old when she caught a cold she could not shake. No matter what she did or how she tried to fight it, it just wouldn’t go away.

Doctors found that she actually had cancer: she was struggling with lymphoblastic lymphoma, not a common cold.

Olivia was treated, and after a few complications, she was declared cancer-free in February 2017. She would just need continued treatments to prevent the disease from returning.

Unfortunately, in March she encountered another unshakable cold. Her cancer had returned.

“If there’s a bully at school, or they’re having trouble on a test, you can help your kids with so much,” Olivia’s mom, Megan Stoy, said. “But this is the one thing that’s out of your hands.”

Despite the trials Olivia’s endured, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Doctors have told her that her only real option now is a bone marrow transplant.

She already has a willing match, too: her own brother.

The problem? Their insurance company told her family they would not cover the $900,000 cost for the procedure.

The Stoy family was able to work out a deal with their hospital, and the hospital agreed to do the operation for $350,000. With that concrete, more-attainable number before them, the family has set out to raise the funds.

Stoy has a GoFundMe that has raised almost $130,000 in just a month. But she’s putting in some elbow grease of her own, too.

With the help of designer Emily Bryan, Stoy is now selling bracelets as a fundraiser for her own surgery. And she’s incredibly optimistic, given the circumstances.

“I know that we’ll reach it and I’m just so thankful for what everyone’s doing. I’m looking forward to just being more active and getting back to the life that I had,” Stoy said.

And she doesn’t want to stop with her own treatment. If there are extra funds, she wants to pay them forward. She has a unique perspective on the horrible disease that has made her life and the life of others miserable.

“I can understand their situation and I think it would be really nice. And also I just want to give back for everything everyone has done for me already,” she said.

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