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By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
Eduard Nogay’s fighting spirit and joy for life should provide inspiration and a learning experience for all of us.
The Fort Hamilton senior volleyball player, who died of cancer on June 4, touched the lives of all the people he came into contact with, and even those he didn’t.
“I’ve been seeing messages on Facebook from people who never met him saying that he’s taught them something about life,” Fort Hamilton boy’s volleyball coach Kim Tolve said.
Nogay taught them the power of perseverance and determination even up until his final breath. Nogay held onto life until three minutes after his 18th birthday at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, keeping a vow he made to his mother and brother.
“He promised them he wouldn’t die on this birthday and he didn’t,” Tolve said. “It was part of his master plan.”
It was a simple plan: to live like there was no tomorrow.
That’s because Nogay didn’t know if he had one after being given just two more months to live when tests in April showed the cancer wasn’t slowing down. He had his right arm amputated on Oct. 31 when the cancer spread to the nerves and also into his lungs, which collapsed twice. Chemotherapy and experimental cancer treatments didn’t work, but through it all Nogay never lost his love for sports, which gave him a goal to live for.
“He was determined to play volleyball again,” Tolve said. “He kept nagging the doctors, ‘My dying wish is to play [again].’ ”
Nogay, who had played in seven regular season matches, did just that when he was cleared to return for the post season. Fort Hamilton, the No. 4 seed, went all the way to the semifinals before losing to eventual city champion American Studies.
“All he ever really wanted to do was play sports,” said Iyuhna Callands, a senior on the school’s flag football team and a friend of Nogay’s. “It wasn’t necessarily about winning. It was about being part of a family, a team.”
Nogay selflessly thanked his volleyball teammates by buying them T-shirts commemorating their division title. They had a yellow and blue cancer ribbon on the front along with the image of the Tiger claws he had tattooed on his abdomen. On the back: “Heart is what sets us apart.”
Heart is also what made Nogay special. He carried himself through the most difficult of situations with a grace that most of us could only hope to emulate. We can all learn from Nogay that every minute of life is worth living, and we should live it doing what makes us happy.
Reach reporter Joseph Staszewski at jstaszewski@cnglocal.com. Follow him on twitter @cng_staszewski.