Olivia, my darling girl, how I miss you. It’s hard to believe that Sunday marked the 4th birthday we’ve celebrated without you. I never thought your first birthday would be the only one we would get to celebrate together.

I will never forget the day of your first birthday party. You were in remission and had just had your last chemo treatment. There was so much joy and excitement about the idea of a normal future together as a family. I watched you take it all in. You always had this quiet beauty and happiness about you that just radiated from your soul.

You sat next to Wyatt in your high chair and smiled at all the people who were there to celebrate you. While Wyatt was nervous and even timid about his birthday cake, you just soaked up each minute and dove right into your smash cake. You even tried to share it with your daddy!

In that moment I never imagined we would bury you just 8 months later. I truly believed you had a bright future ahead of you and that cancer would someday be a distant memory. It breaks my heart to know that cancer will forever be a part of all of our lives. It has changed all of us.

Olivia, I am so proud to be your mommy. Loving you has changed me in so many ways. I wish with each breath that it all could have turned out differently. But I will forever be grateful for each and every second of the 20 months and 3 days I had with you. Until I meet you in heaven my sweet daughter, I will continue to love you with all that I have.

I Love You,

Mommy

The Olivia Caldwell Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit that raises money for pediatric cancer research in memory of Olivia Caldwell, who passed away from brain cancer at 20 months old in October 2013. We have given $155,000 to pediatric cancer research teams since being founded in November 2013. The family is asking that everyone who can donates $5 in honor of Olivia’s 5th birthday, which would’ve been February 19, 2017. You can donate now by clicking on this link. You can learn more at www.oliviacaldwellfoundation.org.