Who was Nicholas McClary

Nicholas was a very special boy. He was quiet, but you always wanted to be sure to listen when he spoke, because it was important and you were sure to be rewarded with a smile.

He was one of the kindest souls I have encountered in my life, always looking out for others and willing to share.
He was the peacekeeper in our family, the one who hated to hear anyone argue and was always quick to help calm things with wisdom far greater than a child usually possess.

He was incredibly intelligent. After being out of school for two years in the hospital, he took the ACTs in the spring and surprised everyone by getting perfect scores on both math and science. This along with his grades earned him a full ride scholarship to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University to study engineering where is brother also attended. But this was not to be his fate.

Nicholas was a true fighter. He faced his fight with cancer showing barely a tear, and was determined to beat it. He never complained about the treatments or how the after effects of these treatments felt. He was often more worried about his mother and I than he was himself. He won many battles in the war against his cancer, but each one left him a little weaker. Each complication he faced with the same mental strength, though his body was scared by the treatments. He fought for life all the way up until the end. His fight is now over, his pain is gone, and he is at peace.
-from the eulogy at his funerla spoken by Andrew McClary (Dad)

Nicholas passed away Nov. 15th of complications from a bone marrow transplant. Though he had beat cancer in his 3 year fight, they were unable to find an exact match as a bone marrow donor. They had to use his mother, who was not a perfect match. While the transplant went well, a year afterward he began showing signs of GVHD or Graph Vs. Host Disease, a condition in which the new blood created by the new marrow begins to attack the body. In Nicholas case it was his lungs. Seeing his lungs as a foreign body, his blood began attacking his lungs making scar tissue in the lungs to the point where he couldn’t breath.

Nicholas family has setup this foundation in his memory to begin fighting for issues that affect cancer patients that can be solved. The first mission that the foundation will be focusing on is the perception of bone marrow donation and increasing the likelihood that people will find a match by getting people to register to become donors.

Nicholas was an extremely bright young man with a very promising future. He love playing games, watching Japanese anime, and making cosplay costumes with his friends. He was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of bone cancer called Ewing’s Sarcoma his junior year in high school. After two years of treatment he finished his high school with online classes and graduated with honors. He was accepted into Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida to study engineering with a full scholarship. The summer before he was to attend college, he was hospitalized with lung problems caused by GVHD. His entire life he always though of others before himself.