22-year-old cancer survivor cries ‘tears of joy’ after surprise visit on Valentine’s Day

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - A 22-year-old Midlands woman battling cancer got a surprise Valentine’s Day visit from a well-known character around Prisma Health Children’s hospital.

“Olly Otter,” who is the mascot for Kid’s Day of Lexington, made a house call to visit Oderra Campbell this weekend and deliver some Valentine’s Day love.

Oderra shared the video on Facebook, saying “I got the best visit from Olly Otter. Thank you for making me laugh and cry (happy tears!) Thank you to everyone who wrote me notes! I love my hospital family so much!”

Oderra was diagnosed with osteosarcoma — or bone cancer —  in November 2019 when she was 20 years old. She went through 9 months of chemotherapy and is now in remission. While Olly visits many kids and young adults at the hospital, Oderra told WIS she never got to meet him in person but they talked on Facebook all the time.

On Valentine’s Day, she finally met him for real when he surprised her with flowers and notes from her hospital nurses and staff.

Bone cancer left Oderra unable to walk on her own, and she said because of that it’s been tough to enjoy the things she used to love. She said the visit from Olly was incredible — and she cannot even explain how happy it made her.

“I had no idea he was coming,” Oderra said. “And the notes my nurses and friends from the hospital wrote just made me feel so loved. I truly am so blessed to have such an amazing team/hospital family.”

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