Tribute to Lorin (By his Mother LeAnn)

In honor of the 4th year since Lorin's passing Craig and I would like to give a big "Shout Out" to the Queen Creek Bulldogs football team for the big win in the semifinals game last night against Nogales. We are so proud of you and look forward to the Championship game next week! Go Dawgs!! Lorin would have loved watching you win like this and go all the way.
When wondering what I could write this year my mind kept going back to last May when I got a call from a young man at Queen Creek High School asking me if I could write a short story of Lorin's life and his goals to be put on a 4x6 ft plaque with pictures on it so they could hang it in the weight room to inspire the youth working out. We felt so honored to be asked to do this yet I found it to be one of the hardest projects I had taken on in a long time. How do you sum up in a few words what your 18 year old son's life was all about? I can tell you that I wrote and rewrote that story many times with alot of prayers and tears in between before I felt I got it right. I then turned it in with a couple of pictures. When it was all done it was amazing! I had no idea it would turn out so beautiful. So to honor him today I thought I'd let all of you read what the youth of Queen Creek high school get to see while they are working out.
Lorin Neal Merkley was a 2008 graduate of Queen Creek high where sports played a major role in his years there. Football was his first love and he played all 4 years putting everything he had into it and earning 2 Varsity letters. Lorin was a starting lineman and was given the name of "Merkdog" # 62 because of his tremendous strength and hard hits. He gained his strength through persistent weight training and was known for his ability to squat and lift a lot of weight thus earning a recognition spot on the stud club wall, something he aspired to do from early on.
Lorin also played baseball for 3 years and was involved in the music program. He was an accomplished pianist and played piano for and sang in the choir. One year he was a cast member in the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" and loved every minute of performing.
Academics were very important to Lorin and he worked hard to maintain a high grade point average staying on the honor roll while taking dual classes and earning himself a presidential scholarship. He was going into the medical field, so he was hoping to get a lot of prerequisites out of the way before serving a 2 year mission for his church.
There were 3 things that took precedence in Lorin's life, the love of his family, (especially time spent with his dad and brothers), the love for his religion and staying true to it, and the love of football with his buddies. His favorite motto was "ETTE" (Endure to the End), no matter how hard it gets.
Two and a half months after graduation Lorin was diagnosed with cancer but no one could ever put an exact name on it which made it hard to treat. He had it in the bones, the tissues and organs. They finally decided to call it "undifferentiated Sarcoma" stage IV. He suffered in terrible pain during the next several months in The Phoenix Children's hospital undergoing chemo and heavy radiation, yet continued to be optimistic, telling the Drs that he had a mission to go on, so to hurry and get him well!
For 3 long months Lorin spent most of his time in the hospital never losing hope and wanting to feel good enough to go to a Queen Creek football game to support his "Bulldog Buddies". On November 14th with an oxygen tank in hand we were able to wheel Lorin into a football game where he watched from the sidelines for as long as he could. He was given such an amazing welcome! So many people were wearing shirts with his # on it and/or something red (his favorite color). Even the football players and cheerleaders were wearing tokens of red in his honor. It was an overwhelming sight. Four days later on November 18, 2008 he lost his battle with cancer but his strong spirit continues to be felt among many. He definitely knew how to "endure to the end" and did it well. He now serves his mission on the other side.