Andre Roman Olivera of Pendleton died on Oct. 26, 2025 in Portland at the age of 21.
He was born on Dec. 31, 2003 in Eugene.
There is a letter from his family below with a description of his very abrupt passing.
Andre leaves behind his parents, Roman and Karen Olivera; his beloved siblings, for whom he had always been the glue that kept them together; and the two lights of his life, his children, Marianna (1) and Legend (2) Olivera.
Andre’s family has established a fund in his name to help young adults obtain mental health services. Donations in memory of Andre may be made to Health and Wellness Resource Center at Blue Mountain Community College (contact Kristie Harrison at kharrison@bluecc.edu).
A funeral service will be held on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2025 at 1 p.m. at Burns Mortuary Chapel, Hermiston.
Please share memories of Andre with his family at burnsmortuaryhermiston.com.
Burns Mortuary of Hermiston is in care of arrangements.
Description of Passing
Andre suffered from a gunshot wound to the head on Sept. 13, 2024. The events leading up to this gunshot remain unknown at this time, though the proper steps have been taken for a complete examination. Over this past year he had made tremendous progress, learning how to walk and talk again! In April, Andre had an infection of his skull that required him to have the left side of his skull removed. He had this off for the past six months to ensure the infection had cleared. He continued to make more and more progress over this time, even learning his babies’ names again and walking all the way to the coffee shop down the street with the use of his walker. He was expected to progress further with the placement of his custom-made titanium skull and regain more independence, as he would no longer be required to wear a helmet. On Friday, Oct. 17, he went in for this surgery, a cranioplasty, a relatively simple surgery given that he had one similar after his initial injury. The surgery went perfect! The skull was placed, and the incision was closed so that his hair would cover a majority of his scars. However, post-operatively, as he was beginning to wake up, he had a seizure. Then another and another. They increased his sedation and rushed him to get a CT scan, which showed rapid swelling of the right side of his brain. The swelling was so quick and significant, it caused ischemia (strokes) in multiple areas of his brain. They rushed him back to the operating room to remove the titanium skull that was just placed, but the swelling continued. They then removed the right side of his skull as well to leave as much room as possible for the swelling to minimize damage to his brain. Over the next week, they attempted to reduce the swelling multiple different ways, but nothing worked, the swelling continued. His brain became so damaged that he would no longer be the Andre we all know and love. The ventilator was keeping him alive. We began the process of organ donation, however there is a timeframe that must be met in order to ensure all of the organs have the proper oxygen content, that was not able to be met. On Oct. 26 at 11:02 p.m., Andre took his last breath in our arms, surrounded by love and knowing that he would never be alone. He went on to donate his corneas to someone in need and his brain to research. The reaction that his brain had is so rare that none of the surgeons we spoke with have encountered this in over 20 years of practice and have only read about it in literature. We are hopeful that by studying his brain, there may be some understanding that could help save another life in the future.
