Illinois State Univ. Sorority Sister Diagnosed with Leukemia [Video]

Olivia Bieri was having the time of her life in the fall of 2023.

A freshman at Illinois State University, Bieri had just pledged her dream sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma and was beginning the required classes to fulfill her bachelor’s degree in nursing. 

“I struggled a lot in high school with friends and everything,” Bieri, 19, tells PEOPLE. “But I finally was able to find my people (in college), and I was just so happy. Everything felt so perfect.” 

In February 2023 she took an 11-hour train ride to Conway, Arkansas, to see her boyfriend of over four years.

But on the long ride back to ISU, Bieri felt a strange pain.

“I just thought I had a crick in my neck or something,” Bieri recalls. “I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

Once she returned to school, …