Cancer claims young dancer

FOSTORIA – A Fostoria teenager succumbed to cancer two days after hundreds gathered to give her a Christmas celebration on the lawn of the city’s municipal building. Olivia Lear, 16, died Tuesday after a nine-month fight with osteosarcoma. She had been in a hospice center in Bowling Green after being treated at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “I will forever be a better person for knowing her,” said Dyana Newton, a friend of the Lear family. Newton said Lear was a beautiful soul who loved with everything she had. “(She was) such a beautiful, beautiful kid,” she said. Newton, whose 10-year-old daughter, Valory, also is a dancer and is fighting the same cancer, helped plan a winter wonderland ball before the tree-lighting and recalled Olivia’s laughter and smile during a trip to Los Angeles. She said Olivia and Valory had a special connection she didn’t think anybody could understand. The girls underwent the same type of surgery, stayed in the same hospital, loved giraffes, had dogs with the same name and danced. Valory was diagnosed with osteosarcoma Nov. 19 and took the same chemotherapy as Olivia. “These children have friends that die every day. These kids watch their friends die,” Newton said. Olivia, who wanted to go to The Julliard School for dance, didn’t make it to Sunday’s winter events. Hundreds gathered to light Christmas decorations on the lawn of the municipal building, and a winter wonderland ball preceded the lighting at the VFW. Christmas was Olivia’s favorite holiday. Fostoria Mayor Eric Keckler, who led Sunday’s ceremony, said he had gotten word about Olivia’s death toward the end of Tuesday’s council meeting. Council members observed a moment of silence on what the mayor called a “tough night.” Keckler said it was heart-warming yet sad that Olivia couldn’t attend the tree-lighting ceremony. Olivia lived life at 16 more than some people do at 80 years, he said. “I’m glad she was still with us when we lit the tree. The community came out to support her,” he said.