By Dylan Smith, Staff writer
Imagine being 12 years old and walking through the happiest place on earth, Walt Disney World; mesmerized by Cinderella’s castle and meeting characters like Mickey Mouse and Tinkerbell. It was dream come true for Olivia Rogers, Susquehanna University softball’s adopted teammate.
Olivia, an actress in multiple shows and soon-to-be guitar player, is currently battling leukemia. In September 2017, Olivia was paired with Susquehanna Softball through Friends for Jaclyn, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide love, support, and friendship for children going through brain cancer and other forms of pediatric cancer.
August 3, 2017 was a bad day for Olivia and her mom when they had to travel to Williamsport after finding out Olivia’s drawn blood was “not normal.” One day in the hospital, turned into a much longer stay.
At 7 p.m. that evening, the doctor informed the Rogers family that Olivia had leukemia. Olivia remembered being overwhelmed and blaming herself for her diagnosis.
Olivia blamed herself because she remembered seeing Camp Victory and saying, “I wish I had Leukemia because [Camp DOST, a section of Camp Victory] looks like fun.” Olivia put the whole burden on her shoulders because of her innocent wish.
Her pairing with Susquehanna softball was her “take back my life song.”
That line from Rachel Platten’s hit song, “Fight Song” was the first thing that Olivia and her family heard when they arrived at Sassafras Field at Susquehanna. “We were pulling into our parking spot and all of a sudden “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten began playing,” Olivia said. This was just beginning of her relationship with this song.
After that first meeting, “it was a match made in heaven,” according to her mother, Krista Rogers.
Many of the River Hawks would make the trip to visit her in the hospital. They even dedicated their team hashtag, #UseBricks, to Olivia in honor of the last performance she was in, Little Red Robin Hood, where she played the third little pig that used bricks.
During one visit, senior left fielder Leigh Ann Greenwald and third basemen Emilie Boman were talking about their spring break trip to Florida for softball. Her eyes lit up but to Olivia’s disappointment, it did not seem possible to have her go down with the team.
“We had to do something because she gives us much more than we can give her,” Greenwald said.
This sparked Greenwald to turn to Twitter, gaining recognition from US National Softball Player Lauren Chamberlain and University of Alabama Softball Head Coach Patrick Murphy. With a little help from the Scrap Yard Dogs, the Atlanta Braves and Boman’s GoFundMe page raising $6,300, Olivia and her family to travel down to Florida.
She got to hang in the dugout with the River Hawks, be a part of the huddle and made it to Disney. She also had the chance to meet Myers and visit the Atlanta Braves during Spring Training to throw out the first pitch.
Catching her pitch was infielder Charlie Culberson, who got to spend majority of pregame hanging out with Olivia. Culberson, not only would catch the first pitch, but gave an already “overwhelmed” Olivia a signed bat, his batting gloves, on top of her first pitch ball and her own Braves jersey.
Both Boman and Greenwald “happy cried” along with Olivia when meeting Culberson, but they knew how special this moment was.
“She is an inspiration,” Boman and Greenwald said. “When we are running and don’t want to, we remind ourselves that Olivia would love to run and do what we do.”
Boman continued, “I never knew I had so much to learn from a 12-year old girl but she is just a ray of sunshine.”
This brave girl has taken on a huge battle and this is her “Fight Song.”