Tumor claims young girl

Deepa Bharath

COSTA MESA -- She was just a young girl who loved roses, butterflies,

bright reds and rainbows.

Brianna Olympius was Ms. Sunshine.

And while a decade might seem like a long span of time to many, it was

all Brianna had to live the life she loved, cherished and lived to the

fullest.

Brianna was chatting with her friends and laying with her mother right

before she died peacefully Friday night from complications from a tumor

that had woven itself into her brain stem.

Her mother, Suzi Olympius, says Brianna’s death is not a loss but a

time to celebrate her liberation from pain and suffering.

“Of course, it is a loss,” she added. “But it’s a happy one. The last

two weeks, she has been really tired. I think she was ready. She was

ready to go.”

Olympius said her daughter was asked if she wanted to go through

further treatment that would help her live a little longer.

“She refused,” Olympius said. “She didn’t want it.”

Brianna did not suffer physical pain except when she went through

surgeries in which doctors tried to remove the tumor. But when doctors

studied the tumor after the first surgery, they found it grew very fast.

That discouraged them from using gamma knife radiosurgery to remove

the remains of the tumor after the first surgery. A gamma knife is a

noninvasive tool that administers low-level gamma radiation, which --

unlike conventional radiation therapy -- can remove the remains of a

tumor in less than an hour.

Brianna continued to be tormented by the feeling and the knowledge

that she was not normal, her mother said.

“That was her only pain, knowing that she was not like any other

normal child,” she said.

Brianna’s 12-year-old brother, Brandon, was having dinner with his

friends, cousins and uncles about 8 p.m. Friday when his sister died at

home.

“Before I left I told her ‘Bye, Bree’ and ‘Love you, Bree,’ and when

I came back she was gone, dead,” he said. “I just don’t know how else to

say it.”

On Monday, he was still looking at sheets of paper on which his mom

had traced out Brianna’s hand and foot. On top of the page was the date

and time: Sept. 14, 2001, 8 p.m.

Brandon and Brianna fought a lot -- brother and sister kind of stuff.

“We’d always fight for the front seat,” he recalled with a smile.

But they were also best buds.

“She was the coolest sister in the world,” he said.

Brandon said he was “mad and confused” when his sister had to go

through the surgeries, but is dealing with it better now.

“I’m just trying to kick back and relax and get the aggression out of

my system,” he said. “She’s in a better place now. She’s not being

teased, and she’s not going through all the pain. “

Brianna has also touched many people at Newport Heights Elementary

School, where she attended fourth grade last year. Best friend Ashlee

Roberson said she and Brianna enjoyed playing handball and jumping rope.

“Brianna taught me everything I know about Chinese jump rope,” she

said. “The day before she died, I was talking to her about it and she

showed with her fingers how she’d do Chinese jump rope, like she was

doing it in her brain. It was cool.”

Brianna went to school from January to three weeks before the end of

school, but couldn’t make it beyond that. Ashlee says she misses her

friend at school.

“I used to wear glasses, and people made fun of me,” she said. “But

Brianna always stood up for me, and she would never make fun of me.”

Even in the last days when Brianna put up a brave front, behind that

facade was a frightened young girl, her mother said.

“She was afraid to die,” said Olympius, who had stoically accepted the

inevitable a year ago when doctors said Brianna did not have long to

live.

But Brianna was in denial, she said.

“Two months ago, she wouldn’t let me cut off her pants,” Olympius

said. “She wanted to grow into them.”

Mother and daughter spent the last few weeks and months doing what

Brianna enjoyed doing the most -- eating and playing Monopoly.

“She loved lobster and seafood,” Olympius said. “And we have three

different kinds of Monopoly here. She played even the morning of the day

she died.”

Olympius said she has received tremendous emotional and financial

support from the community and her family -- sisters and parents.

“As a single mom, I couldn’t have made it otherwise,” she said.

Teri Carano, Ashlee’s mother, was one of the Newport Heights parents

who spearheaded fund-raising for Brianna.

“She was one sweet little girl,” Carano said. “She was smart in

school. She was very determined, and that’s what has helped her stay

alive for so long. It was just so easy to love that girl.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .

FYI

A service will be held in Brianna’s memory at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at

Heller Park in Costa Mesa. Those attending are asked to wear “Brianna

brights,” bright-colored clothes. For more information or to make

donations, call Teri Carano at (949) 642-1189.