“The entire community suffered a great loss of this future Community leader. I never got to meet this young man personally but I saw his effort, play and leadership skills in full force vs. my son’s team last season. Great leadership on the field.”
“There was a quality about Oliver that made everybody feel good about themselves.”
“Oliver inspires us all towards acts of thoughtfulness and kindness.”
“He seemed to be the most kind-hearted, funny, respectful, polite person I have ever met. He is the type of person people like myself strive to be like. He led by example.”
“He had a sweetness that captivated everyone, an air of confidence that made us trust him. He was kind and gentle, but determined and strong in his convictions. He stood up for the weak and spoke up for those who wouldn’t. He wasn’t afraid to stand out, show his feelings, and stand up for what he believed in. He had all the qualities of a true leader.”
“No hay un POR QUE en muchas decisiones de Dios.. Pero siempre hay un PARA QUE. La muerte de Oliver no sera en vano…”
“Oliver permanecerá por siempre jamás en nuestros corazones y su luz siempre nos acompañará a todos aquellos que tuvimos la suerte de conocerlo.”
“Oliver was different. He was mature beyond his years. It was incredible to me that such a young child was so responsible and hungry to learn. He had something that I could not teach, he had desire. He made it easy to teach him. Whenever I think I’ve worked too hard, I think of him. When I look back to the six years I spent tutoring Oliver, I’ve come to realize that all this time, he was tutoring me. He showed me what it means to truly put all of your effort into something. I saw compassion in his eyes. There was no darkness in Oliver, only light.”
“Oliver’s life was of SACRIFICE! Even in death, he gathers and unites and enlightens! Oliver could walk into a room and light it up with his smile. He could make you roar with laughter. He could serve baked beans to a homeless person and make them feel they were at a banquet just for them. He combined wholesome mischief, Harry Potter-like mystery, and a sense of wonder that left you dazzled… [along with] his compassion and ability to gather up, hold up, and spread light in our lives.”
“Oliver was not an ordinary child. He had a special aura and sweetness about him that made those who met him love him instantly.”
Our News
Vilma Tarazona relata cómo perdió a su hijo en 36 horas
Miami, Nov 22, 2015: Vilma relata la historia de la pérdida de Oliver en 36 horas a raíz de una fulminante leucemia, en un documental de Aquí y Ahora, la revista de noticias semanal de Univisión.
Media Reports
Artificial Turf Linked to Cancer?
The Turf War former US National Team star Julie Foudy examines the use of crumb rubber on synthetic turf fields and the 180 reported cases of young athletes (including 65 goalies) who have contracted leukemia…
Scientific Papers
A Cluster Analysis of Pediatric Cancer Incidence Rates in Florida: 2000-2010
Statistics and Public Policy 2014 An Official Journal of the American Statistical Association
Our Key Partners
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Our Projects
The Oliver Forever Strong Foundation has appointed a panel of scientists to assist in the identification and evaluation of research projects focused on the potential causes of pediatric cancer, and to seek to explain its significant increase in recent years.
In this regard, we are privileged to have the support of:
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| Michael Scheurer, PhD, MPH | Brenda M. Birmann, ScD | Haneen Yasin Abdella, M.D |
Drs. Scheurer, Birmann, Abdella and others still to be named will assist us in the process of establishing a structure and the criteria for the evaluation of project proposals, which will be subject to adjudication after scientific review by qualified peers under sound and properly documented procedures.
Multivariate cluster analysis of (brain, leukemia, lymphoma) incidence rates (adjusted for age and sex) for 2000-2010 in Florida.
One of the Foundation’s key interests is in environmental risk factors for childhood cancers. As such, one priority for research funds will be to support the design of innovative environmental studies of cancer etiology, including spatial and occupational cluster analyses to identify previously undiscovered risk factors for pediatric cancers.
The interest in geospatial analyses is stimulated in part by five studies published recently by the American Statistical Association, the nation’s leading professional association for statisticians (see the full papers under Scientific Research). Of note, in those studies the incidence of pediatric brain cancer, leukemia and lymphoma between 2000 and 2010 in the region of southern Florida close to Lake Okeechobee and Miami (see map) was observed to be 35% to 52% higher than in other parts of Florida.
To fully understand those findings, further studies are needed to examine environmental risk factors that may explain the higher-incidence regions and identify strategies that could diminish risk. Thus, we intend to devote some of the research funding to support well-qualified scientific teams to collect and analyze data that might lead to a better understanding of the driving forces behind these cancers.
For instance, in consultation with the scientific panel regarding current knowledge gaps, in 2017 we launched TheReasonsWhy.Us™ This is a National Registry of Pediatric Cancer Families, where we are actively generating and collecting the epidemiological profiles of pediatric cancer patients for the purposes of scientific research. To date, these data do not exist from sufficiently large numbers of people to broadly interrogate possible environmental causes.
Governance
We are a charitable foundation operating under the umbrella of the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
A Message from Oliver
According to the World Health Organization, carcinogenesis occurs in three main stages: “Initiation of the cancer occurs when an environmental agent such as a chemical, an infection or radiation successfully damages DNA and this damage fails to be repaired. During the next stage or promotion stage, further genetic damage occurs in the form of mutation until there is loss of regulatory processes and the cancer moves into the progression phase with tumor growth and metastases.” Childhood cancer is rising significantly, as you can see in the chart below. Why? What is causing it? Help us to find out to prevent others dying as young as I did.
Childhood Cancer Incidence Over Time (per 100,000)
