Cancer never stopped Jonah “Bolognah” Diaz from living life. After learning to read at three years old, he was an avid reader devouring books of every type; family always scrunched in closely to listen to his soothing voice. Jonah would play imagination games with his brothers for hours “becoming” anything from Tarzan to tigers to superheroes. His attention span far exceeded his family’s as he put together what seemed like hundreds of Lego kits and colored for endless chunks of time. Although he enjoyed the occasional cheeseburger, pizza slice, or hot dog, Jonah was infamous for his unique appetite of “savory” foods like Pad Thai, mussels, Chinese food, sushi, broccoli, and Dad’s smoked ribs and grilled chicken wings. He was the authority on constructing “the perfect bite” on every spoonful. He not only ate well, but the little chef loved cooking and baking with Mom in the kitchen. His culinary masterpieces ranged from the most delicious homemade blueberry muffins to creating his very own special hamburger sauce. When he wasn’t engaged in any of these activities, Jonah could be found swimming “crazy octopus” style, chasing pigeons, killing zombies, giggling during potty talk, dancing, giving compliments, collecting stuffies, riding rollercoasters, belly laughing, and giving the absolute best hugs.
Jonah passed on May 16, 2015 from relapsed medulloblastoma, a relatively rare type of brain cancer, exactly two years after his first brain surgery. Throughout those two years, Jonah embraced every moment of life while enduring multiple surgeries, extensive chemotherapy, a clinical trial, and almost 60 cumulative days of radiation including daily anesthesia. Despite the vast treatments, Jonah was legendarily positive, determined, intelligent, brave, cooperative, and genuinely happy. His brothers, Sam, Bennett, and Caleb, were always there providing never-ending motivation, distraction, laughter, normalcy, shnuggles, and love.