In late May 2011 Lauren Paige Olander was a typical five year-old. She had just finished pre-school and was excited to start kindergarten in the fall. She loved playing with her friends, swimming, soccer, dance and exploring the great outdoors. Lauren was proud to have just become a big sister and looking forward to going to the family's cottage with her baby brother for the first time and showing him everything there was to do there.
On June 5, 2011, Lauren was diagnosed with a rare biphenotypic acute leukemia and a mass was also discovered in her chest. She immediately began a steroid treatment to attack the mass in her chest. After a failed attempt at placing a picc line in her arm, Lauren underwent surgery to have a Broviac Catheter placed in her chest on June 9. This was risky with the mass in her chest, but necessary in order to start the required treatment for her leukemia.
After two weeks of treatment in the hospital, Lauren's leukemia was drastically improving. On Saturday, June 18, 2011, she got dressed for the first time since she was admitted two weeks prior, and enthusiastically ventured out to the hospital's play deck for a game of Wii. But a cure was not to be for Lauren, her little body just couldn't handle the chemotherapy and she died of an abdominal sepsis the very next day, June 19, 2011, Father's Day.
Supporting Lauren's Legacy
Eleanor and Andrew Olander established Lauren's Legacy, which has committed to raise $250,000 to support the new Golisano Children's Hospital. Every gift, no matter what the size, goes a long way to help us achieve this goal.