 "Photo: Courtesy of the Calbazana family")
After a 3-1 victory over Towson, the Delaware volleyball team held an “adoption” ceremony for Olivia Calbazana, a four-year-old girl suffering from a malignant brain tumor. The team improved to 17-7 on the year, but head coach Bonnie Kenny had more than scores on her mind after the game.
“Volleyball is a game and life is life,” head coach Bonnie Kenny said. “When you see a little kid that’s four years-old [in critical health], and you’re healthy enough to practice every day and go to school, I think it puts a lot of things in perspective.”
Olivia and her family are a part of the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, a non-profit organization that links children with brain tumors to college or high school sports teams near the children’s homes. The purpose of the foundation is to surround children like Olivia with a loving, supporting network of friends that they gain with a team.
The foundation has been very successful in placing children with local sports teams. There are over 120 children paired with college or high school sports teams in 17 different sports. It was also recently featured the on the HBO television series Real Sports.
“Ever since we got linked up, Olivia has been talking about how nice the girls are,” Olivia’s mother Lulu Calbazana said. “Actually, now I have her convinced that she wants to go to the University of Delaware.”
Lulu and her husband, Al, of Middletown, found out about Friends of Jaclyn through another parent who had a child with a brain tumor. She and her husband are both university graduates and wanted to be linked with a Delaware varsity team because of the university’s proximity to their home and their fondness for the school.
According to her parents, Olivia was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor on Black Friday last year, and started chemotherapy in December. After initial chemotherapy treatments and a spinal tap, Olivia had to relearn how to walk. She didn’t speak much, and she sustained an injury to her eyes due to fluid build-up in her brain.
Last January, Olivia and her parents drove to Boston where she began thirty rounds of proton radiation therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Throughout the season, the team has been posting messages on Olivia’s online journal and Web site. She has more than 720 entries in her guestbook, and wristbands made to raise money for her medical fund are called “Princess Olivia.” Her Web Site is www.caringbridge.org/visit/ oliviacalbazana.
The team has found a role model in Olivia.
“She gave us these bracelets,” senior libero Stephanie Barry said. “I know when I see it, I’m like ‘why am I complaining about something so miniscule compared to what she’s going through?’ and [Olivia’s] still happy.”
Olivia first met the team after they defeated Hofstra 3-2 on Oct. 9. Her presence may be a good luck charm for the team. Since the Hofstra match, the team is 7-2. Before Olivia met the team, they were 10-5.
“She was very quiet when we first met her,” junior middle hitter Paige Erickson said. “Her attitude is amazing. Everything that she goes through, and she’s still happy like a little kid.”
According to Barry and Erickson, the team has gained a new perspective on the game. They’ve learned through Olivia not to worry about trivial matters.
“Don’t sweat the small stuff,” Erickson said. “She deals with so much, and she’s only four years-old. If we have a bad day, it’s like ‘look at it in perspective, she’s gone through so much more.’”
According to Lulu, the radiation therapy will affect Olivia’s cognitive and motor skills, and the chemotherapy is already impairing her hearing. Currently, the Calbazanas are taking life one day at a time.
“Olivia is my hero,” Lulu said. “She’s the toughest person I’ve ever met, and she’s only four years-old. She needs someone to look up to.”
The volleyball squad hopes to be Olivia’s biggest supporters, role models, and, of course, friends.
“She’s obviously a good, strong, courageous kid,” Kenny said. “She’s in a battle for her life. That’s scary, scary for her mom and dad. She’s a fighter.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the name of Olivia Calbazana's father. His name is Al.
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