Oliver Tapp and his Genetic Journey

Hi, my name is Brad Tapp and this is my gentle, cheeky and resilient son Oliver. He loves serving side-eye, hand-holding, wiggling to music and anything the colour purple.

Oliver was born with an incredibly rare abnormality in his genetic makeup. Due to this he suffers from an undiagnosed variant of Muscular Dystrophy.

Helpful links:

Oliver (or as he's affectionately known, Ollie, Olbol, Olbs, Olbsy or Mr. Coconut) is 2 years old, born on the 20th of December, 2022 in Burnie, Tasmania. His birth was normal at 39 weeks and was reaching his milestones up until he was 8-10 months old.

During and after consecutive illnesses (croup, Covid, RSV) Ollie began to regress. He went from cruising, back to crawling, crawling back to rolling until eventually, after suffering a severe collection of respiratory illnesses he had lost all independent mobility completely.

Ollie has been in and out of hospital with both planned and unplanned visits. On two occasions he has been flown, both by helicopter and plane from Burnie Hospital, to the Royal Hobart Hospital. The first time he was flown was in November 2024, the second in February 2025, where Ollie is still recovering from a pneumonia event and a gastrostomy procedure.

There's no confirmed date for when Ollie will be able to return home, however we're working on his room to be as comfortable and exciting as possible for when he is set free.

Oliver is not expected to live to a normal life expectancy, and multiple forms of genetic testing is still being completed to perform an official diagnosis for his condition.

While Oliver won't live as long as the rest of us, myself, his mum and his sister are focused on making sure he is still able to live his life to the fullest.

Here's some ideas for what Ollie could use your support and donations for. Some kind words and ideas for things he can do or make the most of in the world when he's home will also be appreciated:

Il'll be providing regular updates on Ollie's condition, diagnosis and his adventures outside of hospital once he's home.

Thank you for taking the time to read Ollie's story, he looks forward to keep sharing his cheeky smile with everyone!