Nicholas Bryan Marsh

Nicholas Bryan Marsh was born on April 8, 1987. On October 14, 2000, he died from complications of a medullary brain stem glioma. Nicholas is survived by his parents Ladonna and Scott Marsh, two brothers Dustin and Zachery, and eight grandparents. He also left more aunts, uncles, cousins, great aunts, and uncles than can possibly be counted.

Nicholas was one of the sweetest and most kindhearted children a parent could have asked for. He loved life and enjoyed it to the fullest always.

At five years of age, he started playing t-ball. He was a major cloud watcher and daisy picker when he was in the outfield, but he loved to bat. He was so proud every time he hit the ball. Each time, you would have thought he had never hit one before. Nicholas played until he was in the fifth grade.

Nicholas had a dream of playing football from a very young age. As a mother and a nurse, I felt it was too dangerous, so I kept telling him, “You are too small, but when you are bigger you can play.” In the seventh grade, he was 5 feet 3 inches and taller than his mom. He said, “Mom, I am bigger than you now. Can I play football now?” I had no choice but to let him play. He loved playing football. He talked about plays and what he did all of the time. It was one subject he never quit talking about.

His other love was his youth group at Calvary Baptist Church. It is called S.W.A.T.T., which stands for Students Warring Against The Tide. Nicholas was there every week, rain or shine, no matter how bad he felt.

On April 6, 2000, Nicholas was diagnosed with a medullary brain stem glioma. He had seen his orthodontist about a month before and he noticed that Nicholas' teeth were irregular in size. His first thought was something hereditary. Luckily for us, he decided to further check into this. He contacted several medical friends of his, and they decided it was probably a twelfth nerve palsy, but Nicholas should see a neurologist to determine what was causing this. We took him to a neurologist who was still unsure, so he ordered an MRI. When the results came back, our family was devastated. Nicholas' father had been diagnosed with testicular cancer just 14 months before. His dad was doing great but he had a very long and hard road to get to be a cancer survivor. So, our thoughts were of how could this happen again. Nicholas on the other hand said, “Don't worry. I will be fine, just like my Dad is.”

A week after Nicholas was diagnosed, we took him to see the Nascar race in Talladega, Alabama. Nicholas was a huge Jeff Burton fan, and one of his wishes was to go to a race. He had a great time, but said it would have been better if his racecar driver had won.

Nicholas started radiation shortly after we got back from the race. He went to school as often as he could, in order to see his friends, especially the girls on the dance team. He missed playing football, but he still got to work out with the team.

His neurologist at St. Jude Children's Hospital called the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Memphis to have a wish granted for him. Nicholas' wish was for a swimming pool. We thought this was an odd request since Nicholas preferred to play Nintendo, read, or watch television. So we asked him why a swimming pool. He said because it was something that would last for always. Nicholas always thought of others. Even in this wish for him to wish for whatever his heart desired, he thought of our family. Actually, his first wish was for a blue Mustang convertible with a really cool CD player, but the wish had to be age appropriate and he had just turned thirteen. So, a car was out of the question.

On the day Nicholas died, his father and I were out of town. We had spoken to him on numerous occasions on Friday night because he had a sinus and ear infection and was feeling bad. On Saturday morning, I received a call that he had quit breathing and that the ambulance was taking him to the hospital. I felt like my heart was tearing apart; my first-born son was sick and I wasn't there to fix it. Nicholas' Aunt Rachel and his grandfather Paul informed us shortly after that he did not ever recover. While we were driving back home, I found out that Nicholas had gotten out of bed and sat in his favorite recliner and asked his brother Dustin to get him something to drink and a blanket. After Dustin got him these, he gave him a hug and told him that he loved him. Then, he asked for some Tylenol for a headache. Shortly after this Nicholas's heart stopped and he quit breathing. His aunt and grandfather did CPR until the ambulance arrived. The ambulance personnel worked on him until they got to the hospital but it was too late.

We agreed on an autopsy to find out exactly what had happened since in July his tumor, which was the size of a golf ball, had shrunk to the size of a dime. At around 9:30pm, his grandfather who had been sick for a few years passed away almost 12 hours exactly after Nicholas died. Nicholas' brothers asked why God took both of them at the same time. Their dad said I think Nicholas was at the gates of heaven and told his grandfather to come on up, that there was no more pain and how very beautiful everything was. It is a great comfort to all of us to know that Nicholas is up in heaven and that someday we will all be reunited. It doesn't make us any less sad, but it gives us some peace of mind.