MEET THE 2015 DREAM TEAM
Marc-Olivier, Charlotte and Jacob
Marc-Olivier is a 10-year-old boy from Gatineau who loves playing with Lego and dinosaurs and learning everything there is to know about volcanoes. In fact, he dreams of visiting a real volcano one day … even better if it happens to be erupting! He also enjoys camping and is probably the most enthusiastic Montreal Canadiens fan you will ever meet. He even does a funny imitation of P.K. Subban trying to speak French! Marc-Olivier truly is a natural-born comedian.
His sense of humour has come in very handy to help him face the events that unfolded since early June of last year. That is when Marc-Olivier, then in Grade 4, was preparing to take the required provincial testing at school and started to feel unwell. Terrible headaches started to appear, which could easily have been written off as signs of anxiety or stress related to the testing. But because they wouldn’t go away, because he got very pale and started to feel pain in his joints, his parents Marie-Chantal Brunette and Marc Chantelois, took him to the doctor and then on to CHEO. It was there that they heard the words that no parent ever wants to hear: “your son has cancer.”
Marc-Olivier was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) and his happy world was turned upside down. Instead of playing with his dog Chocolatine (French for chocolate croissant), his sisters Laurianne, Marianne and Marie-Soleil, and hanging out with his buddies, Marc-Olivier had to be admitted to CHEO to begin chemotherapy treatments. He is now in the midst of a three-anda-half year journey to kick cancer to the curb.
Despite all the tribulations that come with oncology treatments, despite the fact that he has matured much too quickly, and despite the fact that he sometimes has to endure a lot of pain, MarcOlivier isn’t really one to complain.
“Marc-Olivier is a fighter,” explains his mother. “He wants to get better. He has shown more courage than I have been able to muster. He does what he needs to do to get better and lives in the moment. To him, it’s about here and now and taking things one day at a time.”
Indeed, Marc-Olivier has had to grieve his life as it was before cancer — goodbye playdates, school and sports — and has tried to rebuild a new, temporary life. Thankfully, to support him in this he is surrounded by an amazing medical team, his loving family, his friends, schoolmates and his entire community who send him messages of encouragement or funny jokes to keep him laughing.
“For parents, a cancer diagnosis is quite a shock. You can’t kiss that bobo away, yet you want to help your child,” explains dad. “What helps is to see Marc-Olivier remain himself, keep his sense of humour and demonstrate such a strong will to live.”
This witty little fighter can find humour just about everywhere: Sick due to chemo? Tease dad and ask if he’s hungry. Stuck in isolation and can’t get out of your hospital room because you could catch something? Invent funny dance moves. Bored because friends can’t visit? Play jokes on mom … or yell ‘squirrel!’ when the cat walks by so you can watch your dog go nuts!
This is classic 10-year-old boy humour and it is beautiful to see that illness has not tempered it. This positive and playful mindset will get him through the rest of the treatments and it is something that the CHEO staff cultivates. They want to ensure that kids get to play and have a childhood throughout their healing journey.
The late Robin Williams once said: “Comedy is acting out optimism.” This certainly rings true for Marc-Olivier; a happy child, a fighter and an optimist who knows he will get better with a little help from CHEO, his family and friends.
Soon enough he will be able to rejoin his friends, go back to school and take up his favourite hobbies again. In the meantime, please support Marc-Olivier in the CN Cycle for CHEO and catch a glimpse of his mischievous smirk. It is proof that just like the volcanoes that fascinate him so much, Marc-Olivier is filled with incredible strength and infinite vitality!