Olivia Kassien didn\u2019t have anything, but it didn\u2019t matter<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
A cardinal wearing Ray Ban sunglasses told her it was time.<\/p>\n
She linked arms with her 16-year-old brother, Troy, and walked up to meet Pope Benedict XVI.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so much bigger than meeting the president or a celebrity,\u201d Olivia, 17, said. \u201cI looked into his eyes and I literally thought he was looking into my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
She worried her illness would prevent her from showing proper respect. Sometimes she can\u2019t kneel because it\u2019s too painful.<\/p>\n
The Vatican meeting was the result of a series of long-shot chances that played out in Olivia\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n
Visiting Italy had long been her wish; a hope to escape her daily reality of living with a rare disease. But meeting the Pope was something she never thought to request\u2026.<\/p>\n
\u2026<\/p>\n
As a student at the Orange County High School for the Performing Arts in Santa Ana, she studied opera and was singing with the advanced classical choir as a freshman.<\/p>\n
She suffered from stage fright so her mother would make her sing in public; markets, parking lots and furniture stores became her stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I was able to conquer stage fright \u2026 I knew I was good and I really started to love it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Just as she was getting comfortable in the spotlight, Olivia was diagnosed with Behcet\u2019s Disease, an incurable autoimmune disorder.<\/p>\n
Olivia started showing symptoms at 13 but it took two years for doctors to diagnose the disease, her mother Lisa Kassien said.<\/p>\n
Olivia requires infusions every six weeks and chemotherapy treatments because the medicine she takes can cause cancer.<\/p>\n
The disease causes ulcers, intense fatigue and extreme joint pain and stiffness that her mother describes as similar to rheumatoid arthritis.<\/p>\n
Olivia started missing school and eventually stopped singing.<\/p>\n
Lisa submitted her daughter\u2019s story to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a year later learned she would get a wish.<\/p>\n
Representatives from the nonprofit interviewed Olivia, asking her favorite color, favorite restaurant and what kind of music she enjoyed.<\/p>\n
Her ultimate wish was to travel to Italy, but meeting Julie Andrews or spending a family vacation in Hawaii was also on her list.<\/p>\n
Olivia had kept a running tally of friends she knew who visited Italy.<\/p>\n
It was up to 18 people when she got the news in November that she would be able to add her name to the list. But it wasn\u2019t until a week before they were to leave that the Kassiens found out they would head to Rome.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read more. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How cool is this? Read all about it: She wore a red coat to stand out among the foreign dignitaries and international politicians. Others in line to meet the leader of the Roman Catholic Church carried gifts: Tapestries, paintings, even the Olympic torch. Olivia Kassien didn\u2019t have anything, but it didn\u2019t matter A cardinal wearing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-pope"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n