Logan James Parker, 9, of Ocean Township earned his angel’s wings on March 5, 2016 while hospitalized in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Bristol Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital, New Brunswick, after a long and hard-fought battle with cancer. Born on November 27, 2006, Logan was diagnosed with a rare leukemia three months before his fourth birthday. In the five-and-a-half years that followed, Logan received a stem cell transplant, was part of two clinical trials and received a subsequent bone marrow transplant. In all, he valiantly fought cancer five times, displaying a warrior’s courage with his ever-present smile.

Logan was a third grader at Dow Avenue Elementary School in Ocean Township and despite the battles he was faced with he still played baseball with the Ocean Township Little League and achieved the rank of Purple Belt in karate with Master GJ Torres’ Black Dragons Dojo in Eatontown. He was featured in the 80th Anniversary edition of Esquire Magazine as the first boy to have received the engineered T-cell therapy known as CART-19.

Logan was a rare child who refused to ever give up. He was a bright light in what could be a very dark time and showed even the toughest around him that they would have to be tougher to hold a candle to him. In the words of a family friend, “He looked cancer in the eyes and said ‘You messed with the wrong kid.’ He fought with tenacity and spirit well beyond his years.” And each time he was told of relapse, he would declare that he was ready to fight again. And fight he did. He never gave up…his body gave up on him.

He will be remembered by the thousands of people who knew him or followed him on his Facebook page as one of the most loving, yet courageous children they have ever known or witnessed. He touched so many lives and brought so many smiles. To know Logan was to love him, and he loved right back.

Logan will be desperately missed by his loving and heartbroken parents, Richard and Nancy Parker and his adoring brothers, Jordan Bowman and Aedan, Ocean Township. He also leaves behind his grandparents, Pattie Tucker, Jackson; Charlie Oliver, Red Bank; and Sofia Meyerson and Todd McCormick, Ocean Township; his uncles, Joe Parker, Wall and Jay Oliver, Brick; his grand uncles and aunts, Jim and Kathy Tucker, Durham, NH, Bob and Marianne Tucker, Rochester, NY; John and Margaret Tucker, Howell, NJ; Tessie Jenney and Brian Coombs, both of Virginia Beach, VA. He also leaves his cousins, Travis, Lauren and Carly Tucker, Howell, NJ; Christopher Tucker, Portsmouth, NH; J. Robert and Maggie Tucker, Rochester, NY; Katheryn Coombs, Chris Jenney, and Jed and Karen Jenney, of Virginia Beach, VA; and scores of friends. Also missing their mighty warrior are his Black Dragons Dojo families in Eatontown, Red Bank, Long Branch and Freehold.

The family would like to express their deepest gratitude to the thousands of people who have supported them during Logan’s battle and especially Dr. Richard Drachtman, Section Chief, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) and his staff, Dr. Stephan Grupp, director of Translational Research for the Center for Childhood Cancer Research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and his staff, Dr. Nancy Bunin, Director, Stem Cell Transplantation at CHOP and her staff, as well as the staffs on the Transplant Unit, Oncology Unit, and Clinic at CHOP, the Pediatric Oncology Clinic at CINJ, and the Pediatric Oncology Unit at Bristol Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital, New Brunswick.

The family would appreciate donations in Logan’s memory to the Frances Foundation for Kids Fighting Cancer, Holmdel, NJ; the Ashley Lauren Foundation, Spring Lake, NJ; the Mya Lin Terry Foundation, Ocean, NJ; Emmanuel Cancer Foundation, Scotch Plains, NJ; or Make Some Noise Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, Morristown, NJ. Visitors are asked to honor Logan by wearing something red, his favorite color.

Visitation will be held at the Clayton & McGirr Funeral Home, 100 Elton-Adelphia Road (Route 524), Freehold Township on Wednesday, March 9, 2016 from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. Relatives and friends are invited to attend his 10:00 AM funeral service at St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church, 61 Georgia Road, Freehold Township on Thursday, March 10, 2016. A committal service will follow in Monmouth Memorial Park, Tinton Falls. For information, directions or condolence messages to the family, visit www.claytonfuneralhome.com

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