Services Set for 12-Year-Old Haverhill Bicyclist DeLeon; Family Remembers Boy as ‘Full of Life’

(File photograph.)

Nathan DeLeon (Courtesy photograph)

One week after Haverhill 12-year-old Nathan A. DeLeon succumbed to injuries sustained in a bicycle accident, his family is preparing to say goodbye to the boy they called “full of life” at weekend funeral services.

Parents Jeremy and Judy DeLeon plan to remember their son during a Friday, Aug. 30 wake from 2-8 p.m. at Methuen’s Cataudella Funeral Home, 126 Pleasant Valley St., before a funeral mass is said for Nathan on Saturday at 10 a.m. at St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Lawrence. Burial follows at St. Mary-Immaculate Conception Cemetery in Lawrence.

In his obituary released by the funeral home Wednesday, Bartlett School student Nathan—who would have entered the seventh grade this week—was lovingly remembered by the DeLeon family as “full of life and many dreams.”

Born in Methuen on March 14, 2007, he enjoyed music and dancing, especially while on car rides with his mother. Described as energetic and “free-spirited,” Nathan often made selfie videos and spent his spare time riding his bike, his family said.

“He will be sorely missed by all who had the opportunity to meet him and will forever be remembered for his happiness and laughter,” the DeLeon family said of Nathan.

As WHAV previously reported, Nathan was struck by a Buick Encore while riding his bike near his home on Bradford’s Farrwood Drive on Aug. 16. No charges have yet been filed. Flown to Boston’s Tufts Medical Center, Nathan underwent two brain surgeries. His family said the second caused a stroke on the right side of his brain. Upon his passing, his organs were donated.

According to the DeLeons, a nine-year-old received his heart, two women in their 30s—including a family friend—each received a kidney, and a male in his 60s received his liver. “Thanks to Nathan’s generous organ donations, these four families will have their loved ones with them longer than expected,” his family said.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Nathan’s memory may be made to the Doug Flutie Foundation for Austism. An online fundraising page has been set up to defray funeral costs through GoFundMe.

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