Nicole Parker was born in Orlando, Florida, the first child born to Susan and John. She was a joyful and happy baby. She attended Bear Lake elementary and grew to love music during these years. Nicole was a member of the 2004 National Champion Lake Brantley Pop Warner cheer squad. She attended Teague Middle school and achieved superior academic grades and began to play the clarinet. She entered Lake Brantley High School and continued her love for music in the Patriot Marching Band. Nicole continued to excel academically and made many friends. She traveled to Europe on a band trip and developed several close lifelong friendships at this time. She was honored to be selected for homecoming and prom court. After graduating in the top ten in her LBHS class she was accepted to the University of Florida and became a member of the "Pride of the Sunshine Marching Band".

   After a healthy childhood, Nicole's health began to impact her life on January 11th, 2014 when she began experiencing severe headaches and an MRI revealed a large brain tumor. She underwent brain surgery shortly thereafter with removal of a malignant sarcoma. She had a complete recovery from her symptoms and traveled to Boston for cancer specialist consultation. Smaller tumors in her brain were scheduled to be irradiated and when this was done it was discovered that one of the tumors had grown too large for radiation therapy and so she underwent a second brain surgery in February 2014. In April 2014 she underwent surgical removal of a tumor in the middle lobe of her right lung.

   Along with her family, many of her LBHS friends were with her every step of the way during her recovery, including Tyler, Madison and Zack, along with her UF roommate Kathleen, just to name a few. Her sister Brianne lifted her spirits daily at home and her brother Matt did as well during frequent visits. But even three major operations in three months did not stop Nicole's intention to return to normal life again and she returned to her campus apartment to continue her studies at UF. She loved the campus and all of her friends there and she loved to attend Gator football games in the swamp.

   Fortunately Nicole was able to initiate an experimental targeted chemotherapy in order to halt the growth of her cancer. She did remarkably well on these new drugs and we were all hopeful that she would have long term benefit. She continued her studies at UF but unfortunately, drug resistance eventually developed and she thereafter underwent more stereotactic radiation and switched to another new drug. Throughout her illness, Nicole traveled to New York Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Moffitt Cancer Center, Shands Hospital, Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center and Massachusetts General Hospital, meeting with world renown cancer specialists who helped provide treatment advice. She was cared for here in Florida at Florida Hospital Orlando by the finest team of physician that she grew to love and admire over time.

   Nicole went through four courses of different experimental chemo drugs and after resistance developed again with tumor growth, she initiated IV immunotherapy in the hope of controlling her relentless cancer. Despite everything that she had been through, she kept up her spirits and lived life to the fullest over the course of her three year fight. She traveled extensively with Brianne and her parents and friends, went on a cross country road trip with Tyler, and enjoyed holiday seasons with extended family. She met and fell in love with Callum King, and we had never seen her so happy as she traveled the world with him.

   Nicole fell ill again in late January 2017 and entered the hospital for additional radiation treatments. Unfortunately, her cancer progressed extremely rapidly and she went into a coma on January 30th. She died peacefully in the early morning hours of January 31st, while being held by her parents, sister, and boyfriend and surrounded at her bedside by many of her family and friends.

   It was the saddest day of our lives. 
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