Tribute to Brianna

Deepa Bharath

The black-and-white portrait that hung on the wall of Todd Olympius’

Eastside apartment was of a little girl in pigtails.

She was his little girl, Brianna, sitting on a bike with her eyes

closed as if she were ready to ride it into a magical world of fun

and adventure.

But 10-year-old Brianna didn’t get to live her life, dreams or

fantasies. The girl, diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in her brain

stem, died in September 2001. She lived nine months longer than

expected.

Olympius thanks his daughter’s doctors at Children’s Hospital of

Orange County for giving him and his family that extra precious time

with Brianna.

Three years after her death, the 42-year-old Costa Mesa resident,

who fabricates custom cars for a living, is organizing a car show,

Rev-N-Rock for CHOC, on Saturday to fund brain-tumor research through

CHOC’s Neuroscience Institute.

The fundraiser, where he expects to see more than 300 cars, is a

special tribute to Brianna and other children like her, Olympius

said.

“There is no better tribute to my daughter and the other little

faces in CHOC,” he said.

The event will commence at 10 a.m. in Central Park in Huntington

Beach. The cars, ranging from hot rods and classics to muscle cars

and custom vehicles, will be parked on the grass that Brianna loved

so much. Even her memorial service was held a park, Heller Park in

Costa Mesa, with friends and family dressed in “Brianna brights” --

bright-colored clothes like she always wore.

Olympius worked hard to bring the show to a local park, he said.

“I must have talked to 18 different city council members in

different cities to get approvals,” he said. “It didn’t work for some

of them.”

But the city of Huntington Beach, which works closely with CHOC on

many projects, agreed to host the event at Central Park, Olympius

said.

His daughter’s illness changed his attitude and perception of the

world, Olympius said.

“You see a lot of people in this area: they’re like ‘me, me, me,’”

he said. “I used to be one of those people. I was in my track in

life. And then I got pushed to the ground, sat up and said, ‘Wow.’”

He doesn’t even remember how many hours he spent at the hospital,

waiting, as Brianna underwent her treatment.

“You look at the children in that hospital -- many of them don’t

even know why they’re there,” he said.

Scenes at the hospital touched Brianna’s heart too, Olympius said.

“When she saw this article about her in the newspaper, she said,

‘Why me?’” he said. “She wanted to know why only she was written

about, when there were five floors of kids going through a lot of

suffering.”

Brianna’s older brother, Brandon, who will be a freshman at

Newport Harbor High School this fall, has been involved with his dad,

helping him with the fundraiser.

“I’m doing it both for my sister and the other kids who are in

need of help,” he said.

Before Brianna became sick, he didn’t know there was a hospital

for children, Brandon said.

“It’s an awesome place, and I’m glad to be giving back in some

way,” he said.

He hopes to not only help his dad with this one event, but he

hopes to participate in the year to come, Brandon said.

“I hope this is something we do for generations in our family,” he

said.

Olympius’ commitment to his project bears testimony to the effect

the hospital has had on him, said CHOC spokeswoman Susan Thomas.

“We usually get a lot of parents, especially the oncology parents,

because they spend a lot of time here,” she said. “It’s special

because they see firsthand what we need.”

Olympius has put this event together fueled by passion and

determination and with little to no funds, Thomas said.

“He lives paycheck to paycheck, still paying off Brianna’s medical

bills some three years after her death,” she said. “But his heart

still belongs to his little girl and to other children he met at

CHOC, who are fighting with as much vigor against cancer as Brianna

did.”

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.