For members of one Draper family, this year’s Festival of Trees benefiting Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital will be both a celebration and an expression of gratitude. Their 17-year-old daughter Olivia is alive today thanks to the efforts of doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital, and she is serving as this year’s Patient Champion for the festival that runs Dec. 3-6 at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy.

Her story is one that started with devastating news, but led to a happy ending.

Three years ago after a routine check-up, Olivia was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, a rare bone marrow cancer. She spent a week at Primary’s while her diagnosis was confirmed and a treatment plan was formed.

During a checkup at Primary’s on her birthday two years ago, she met award-winning actor Miles Teller, who was at the hospital to help open Ryan Seacrest’s broadcast studio. (Courtesy of the Smart family)

“I was on the plan for almost a year until it stopped working,” Olivia said. “My doctors determined that a bone marrow transplant was the next step, and I got one a few months later.”

Before that could happen, the family needed to find a match once doctors determined that Olivia’s immune system would accept a bone marrow donation. Then the search for a match began, and it took some time before a young girl from New Hampshire’s generous donation allowed Olivia to become the first patient at Primary Children’s to receive a cutting-edge stem cell transplant technique called alpha/beta T cell depletion. It worked. She has been in remission for the past two years.

This past June she volunteered during the annual KSL Giveathon that benefits Primary Children’s. 

“One of my coworkers told me I’d ‘be perfect for this event we have in December – you’d be like the poster child and do a bunch of fun stuff,’ so I agreed to do it,” she said. As Patient Champion, Olivia will conduct a lot of interviews and meet many people, telling her story and sharing her thoughts about the hospital. Her parents, Tony and Sarah Smart, were all for it.

Olivia is a senior at Corner Canyon High School, in remission for two years, and active in the HOSA-Future Health Professionals Club. (Courtesy of the Smart family)

 “If you’re not personally affected by Primary Children’s, the odds are someone you know has been,” Tony said. “I can’t begin to tell you just how great the staff is there. Basically, you get to a point where you can’t solve things by yourself – you just need smart people who know how to tackle this as best you can without hesitating. We were just so fortunate to have this amazing hospital in our backyard.”

“She’s on the other side of a very difficult journey,” Sarah said. “It was very tough to watch her go through this, especially as a high schooler. When her friends and peers were getting their driver’s licenses and going to dances, she was just at home with her mom and dad, and bald. It’s just not a typical path for a 15-year-old girl.”

While Olivia recovered she was homeschooled, and her health continued to improve. On her 16th birthday, on Dec. 5, 2023, she had a doctor’s appointment at Primary’s, the same day in fact that TV star Ryan Seacrest was there to open his new broadcast studio, the 14th he has built and dedicated at children’s hospitals around the country. 

“We were walking down the hallway and my said, ‘Look, there’s Miles Teller,’ who had stopped to tie his shoe,” Olivia recalls. “So my mom says, ‘Miles, can we take a photo of you?’ Obviously, I was still bald and not feeling like photos, but he stopped and took a picture with me. The timing was perfect.”

She is now a senior at Corner Canyon High, active in her school’s HOSA-Future Health Professionals Club, and she’s using her experience to help raise awareness for bone marrow donation.

Those who go to the Festival of Trees to celebrate the season may find her and her family there as well, celebrating for many, many reasons.