Wilmington Teen Who Died Of Cancer Remembered As Sweet, Resilient

WILMINGTON, MA — "When he got diagnosed with cancer, he just wanted to be normal," said Sheila Duong, Zachary Duong's mother. "His version of normal was blood work every three months and seeing the doctor once a year. He just wanted to go back to his version of normal."

Zachary, 16, of Wilmington, died of cancer Nov. 1. His life was a hard one, with serious health problems from birth, but according to his mother, at the end of the day he always had a smile on his face. He was a friendly and caring kid, she said.

Zachary was born in Winchester and grew up in Wilmington. He was a student at Shawsheen Valley Technical High School.

"If someone got hurt, he'd always be the first one to go over there and make sure they were okay," his mother said. "If he overheard someone wasn't feeling well he'd be concerned."

She told a story about when they learned some tough medical news related to Zachary, when he was young. They hadn't told him the news, but he was immediately worried about her, because she was upset.

"He was in the room with my husband, who was trying to distract him. I started crying, and he ran right over to me to make sure I was okay," she said.

Duong's health problems started on day one. He was born with a congenital heart defect — transposition of the great arteries — and had open heart surgery when he was six days old. After complications, it took almost three months for the Duongs to bring their son home.

Less than two years later, he received his first cancer diagnosis, with liver cancer, and then his first of two liver transplants. The replacement liver lasted him five years, though with cirrhosis and other problems, before the problems resulted in "hepatopulmonary syndrome" — his lungs stopped being able to transfer oxygen to the body effectively.

"There were minor complications after that, but really, for the next six years, he was just a regular, typical child," his mother said. "He still had regular blood work and exams, but he was really good."

But in 2017, he developed a protein loss disorder, requiring regular protein infusions, and a year later, he received his second cancer diagnosis.. Because of the two organ transplants and the protein issue, said his mother, Zachary's immune system had to be weakened, so it wouldn't reject the treatments. That left it vulnerable, and he contracted a post-transplant lymphoma.

"It's very aggressive," she said.

Zachary succumbed to the lymphoma on Nov. 1.

"He always had a smile on his face," said Zachary's mother. "It's funny, you ask the doctors, they say he was the sweetest little boy."

" You ask his brother, it's a different story," she joked.

But Zachary and his older brother Max were very close, she said.

"They weren't typical brothers — they weren't beating on each other. Max would come home and give him a hug and a kiss. When he was in the hospital he'd come right in and snuggle up to him."

The brothers liked to play video games, to play games like manhunt and tag outside, and to just sit on the couch, each on their phones, together. He liked to watch television with his father, Cam Duong. With his mother, Zachary loved to watch the food network, she said. He was working on learning to cook, in culinary class, she said, though she was always a bit worried about him using knives.

At school, Zachary liked reading classes, "because he got to read out loud," said his mother. "He got to be the center of attention when he did."

Many of his closest friends were girls, at school and in their neighborhood, she said. Zachary was more comfortable with them.

"He liked nail polish. He liked Monster High Dolls. He was always afraid of what the boys would think about him," she said. "Some of the girls in the neighborhood have been having a hard time with this."

"He was just a sweet kid who just wanted to be like everyone else."

Besides his parents and, Zachary was the dear grandson of Robert Hoefer, the late Mary Ellen Lochiatto, John Lochiatto, V. Phung and the late Canh Duong and the loving nephew of Bobby Hoefer, Jr., Tom Ried Hoefer, Monica Duong and C. B. Duong. Zachary is also survived by his great-grandmother, his great, aunts, great uncles, cousins and friends.

In lieu of flowers, Zachary's family asked that donations in his memory be made to Boston Children’s Hospital, 401 Park Drive Suite 602, Boston, MA 02215-5301 or to the Jimmy Fund, c/o Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, P.O. Box 849168, Boston, MA 02284-9168.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at chris.huffaker@patch.com and 412-265-8353.