Nolan Melchin

Other Events:

• Interesting: cancer, tragedy
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-100879
• Misfortune: 2013, Waterloo City, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; died of cancer at age 6

Notes:

Waterloo Region Record

By Brent Davis

WATERLOO Anyone who knew young Nolan Melchin knew he loved nature, and loved to learn.

Photos of the boy show him happily clutching a fish, or beaming with a snake wrapped around his arms.

So it's a fitting tribute that his parents, Melanie Shaw and Todd Melchin, are raising funds to build an outdoor classroom at the Laurel Creek Nature Centre in his memory.

"Nolan was a very nature-conscious person," Shaw said. "He loved everything to do with nature."

In fall 2012, the Waterloo lad was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. Months of surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation followed, and appeared, for a time, to be working.

But February 2013 brought devastating news. The tumour had returned, and couldn't be treated.

Nolan died a few weeks later, on March 28, 2013. He was just six years old.

The family received tremendous support before and after his passing, Shaw said, and they're hoping to give back.

They raised nearly $10,000 in a golf tournament last year, with the proceeds benefiting the pediatric oncology ward at Hamilton's McMaster Children's Hospital.....