Name
Levi Olson

Age Group (If you are a caregiver/family member please check Caregiver/Family Member)
Youth: 13 - 20 Years of age

Describe your art here - type of art, techniques and materials used, what your art represents and what it means to you.
I used a Nikon D40 camera and created a white background to enhance the color of the raspberries.

Raspberries are significant in my life because I struggle with hypothalamic obesity. The hypothalamus region of my brain was damaged by the craniopharyngioma tumor and the surgery to remove it.
For the last year I have been committed to a low carb food plan (15-20 carbs per meal). I love fruit but many kinds have too many carbs. Raspberries are very low carb, so they have become my favorite food. It is a good alternative when others in my family are having desserts.


Please include your age, tumor type and date of diagnosis (patients & survivors only) and let us know how art has impacted your life.
I am 14 years old and a two-time brain tumor survivor. At age 5, I was diagnosed with a large craniopharyngioma on 5/7/12. It was successfully removed through my nose (endoscopic endonasal approach) on 6/11/12 at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP). The tumor destroyed my pituitary gland so for the last 9 years I have been taking 4-5 different meds every day to compensate for the missing hormones. They allow me to live a normal life despite having adrenal insufficiency and diabetes insipidus.

In 2017 I was hospitalized at Dell Children’s Hospital of Austin with many challenging physical symptoms that caused me to miss most of the spring semester. I was eventually diagnosed with severe anxiety. With the help of my therapist and anxiety medications I was able to recover fairly well that year. Unfortunately, in the winter of 2018 strong physical symptoms returned including constant headaches and I missed months of school. After a terrible 6 months I entered a 3-week in-patient pediatric pain program at the Cleveland Clinic. That program helped me learn to manage my anxiety in ways that are still useful to me today.

In June 2019 a recurrence of the craniopharyngioma was discovered through my annual MRI. We again made the trip from my home in Austin, Texas to CHP and the tumor was removed on 7/12/19 by the same surgical team. We will always be grateful to the surgeons, doctors, nurses, and medical staff who have taken care me over the years.