Originally appeared on chicagotribune.com
While Kristin Arielle Oliver was in the hospital with cardiac sarcoma, she struggled to understand why she was stricken with the disease. The 29-year-old worked out regularly and tried to keep healthy, and yet she found herself hospitalized and facing a fatal illness while holding out hope for advances in research and treatment that would save her life.
“Your life is going to make a difference,” her mother, Pam Oliver, promised her daughter. “I told her that.”
Kristin died two years after her diagnosis, in June 2020, at age 31.
Pam and her husband, Kelvin Oliver, are keeping that promise while trying to keep her memory alive. At the same time, they’re serving a need and educating others about what the family learned through its struggle by partnering with Versiti Blood Center of Illinois for the inaugural Kristin Arielle Oliver Memorial Foundation Blood Drive. It is to take place this weekend in Olympia Fields.
“This is something Kristin would do,” Pam Oliver said. “She can still save someone’s life. … She is our little light that continues to shine on in our hearts.”
Kristin gave blood as a teenager to help a young boy in the community who was diagnosed with leukemia. But she ended up needing donations herself after she was diagnosed with cardiac sarcoma, a rare cancer of the heart. Oliver said the family was told on Memorial Day weekend, 2018.
“She was just living her life, working hard,” Oliver said. “This hit her. It was traumatic for all of us.”
Treatment was immediate. Under high-intensity chemotherapy, Kristin’s bone marrow cells were damaged. Kristin needed regular transfusions and struggled with the idea of needing someone else’s blood inside of her to live, according to her mother.
“It was probably one of the most traumatic experiences she had,” Oliver said. “I lost track of how many transfusions she needed over the course of this chemo. It was just routine.”
Oliver learned a lot about blood supplies through the journey. She said while many people think of accidents or shortages during major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, when it comes to a need for blood, her daughter’s experience opened her eyes to the fact that those donations are also essential for surgeries, cancer treatments, chronic illnesses and traumatic injuries. Someone needs blood every two seconds, she said.
“There’s a need, and a lot of people don’t understand that,” Oliver said. “It’s always needed. You just never know when the need might come. … There is a demand, and not just when there is a shortage.”
When she got the idea to donate in Kristin’s honor, she was surprised to learn her son Kendall had already been doing so regularly — every 56 days, the minimum wait time between donations.
“It made me cry,” Oliver said. “I’m just thankful young people have a lot in their hearts.”
Oliver also learned how important blood donations from people of color can be for her community. While “blood is blood” in a pinch, Oliver said she found out patients experience the best outcomes when they receive donations from people of similar ethnic backgrounds. All of that led to the idea for the hometown blood drive.
“We need a diverse supply,” Oliver said. “We just want to help our community and encourage people of color to be part of the process on a regular basis.”
At the drive, the family is also asking people to bring nonperishable food donations. Those are to help The Center for Food Equity in Medicine address food insecurity for those living with chronic conditions such as cancer. Kristin is a posthumous member of the organization’s board of directors. The Center provides food for people facing health challenges in the Chicago area.
Oliver knows all too well how hard it can be for those going through cancer to afford healthy food. Kristin, who was living in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the time, struggled to buy food after pricey medications, treatments and living expenses. In Kristin’s case, her mother opened a grocery store account to make sure her daughter had access to what she needed. But Oliver recognizes not everyone has the support or resources to do that.
The blood drive is to take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 10, as well as noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 11, at Sgt. Means Park, 20712 Western Ave., in Olympia Fields. Donors are encouraged to schedule appointments in advance at https://bit.ly/3rZrvvy or by calling 1-800-7TO-GIVE. Saturday slots are mostly filled, but Oliver said time has been built in for walk-ups.
A photo ID and face mask are required to donate blood. Donors must be in generally good health and feeling well at the time of donation, as well as weigh more than 110 pounds. Versiti follows guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including sterilization, staff and donor temperature checks, social distancing, and health screenings ahead of registration.
The family is hoping to hold the Olympia Fields blood drive annually. There also will be a blood drive taking place in Houston at a later date, organized by Oliver’s daughter, Kristin’s older sister Tiffani Marshall. Kristin received additional treatment at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center there. But Oliver said this weekend they are asking people to donate wherever they live in Kristin’s honor and post a photo with the #Kbeaconofhope to draw more attention to the effort.
“It’s the start of something,” Oliver said. “Our interest is for this to go global.”