Olkewicz's son, Zach, dropped out of high school to care for his father during his illnesses. Olkewicz had been disabled since 2000 following knee surgery. Zach, now a writer and producer, studied for the GED test and scored a perfect 4000 on the test. He was the only person of 569,000 people who took the test in California to accomplish this and was one of only six in the nation.