December 2025 | Vol. 19 Iss. 12
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Draper
Sadie Dahl
Draper singer reflects on her “The Voice” experience Page 7
First responder mental health
Local company provides support for fire, police personnel Page 10
Draper teen is Patient Champion at this year’s Festival of Trees By Tom Haraldsen | t.haraldsen@mycityjournals.com
Corner Canyon senior Olivia Smart is serving as Patient Champion for this year’s Festival of Trees to support Primary Children’s Hospital.
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or members of one Draper family, this year’s Festival of Trees benefiting Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital will be both a celebration and an expression of gratitude. Their 17-year-old daughter Olivia is alive today thanks to the efforts of doctors, nurses and staff at the hospital, and she is serving as this year’s Patient Champion for the festival that runs Dec. 3-6 at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy. Her story is one that started with devastating news, but led to a happy ending. Three years ago after a routine check-up, Olivia was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, a rare bone marrow cancer. She spent a week at Primary’s while her diagnosis was confirmed and a treatment plan was formed. “I was on the plan for almost a year until it stopped working,” Olivia said. “My doctors determined that a bone marrow transplant was the next step, and I got one a few months later.”
Before that could happen, the family needed to find a match once doctors determined that Olivia’s immune system would accept a bone marrow donation. Then the search for a match began, and it took some time before a young girl from New Hampshire’s generous donation allowed Olivia to become the first patient at Primary Children’s to receive a cutting-edge stem cell transplant technique called alpha/beta T cell depletion. It worked. She has been in remission for the past two years. This past June she volunteered during the annual KSL Giveathon that benefits Primary Children’s. “One of my coworkers told me I’d ‘be perfect for this event we have in December – you’d be like the poster child and do a bunch of fun stuff,’ so I agreed to do it,” she said. As Patient Champion, Olivia will conduct a lot of interviews and meet many people, telling her story and sharing her thoughts about the hospital. Her parents, Tony and Sarah Smart, were all for it. “If you’re not personally affected by Primary Children’s, the odds are someone you know has been,” Tony said. “I can’t begin to tell Continued on page 6
Olivia is a senior at Corner Canyon High School, in remission for two years, and active in the HOSA-Future Health Professionals Club. (Courtesy of the Smart family)