Port Washington street to be named for Logan Coyle, who died of liver cancer at 10

The "mayor" of Essex Court loved to ride his scooter and play kickball with friends until dark.

He loved to sit on his front steps and ask people about their day.

He loved to hang out at the bus stop with his peers before school. 

More than anything, he loved his neighbors.

Logan Coyle, 10, died in June of hepatoblastoma, a malignant liver cancer, at home in Port Washington. But his smile and warmth won't soon be forgotten in the neighborhood he called home: North Hempstead Town will designate a portion of Essex Court as "Logan Coyle Court" later this year.

A new street sign will be placed on the corner of the bus stop where Logan spent so many mornings.

"He would go up to people and say 'Hi, I'm Logan. I live in this house,'" his mother, Rebecca, said in an interview. "Logan had an ability to endear himself to anyone who met him. He was an incredibly positive child who lived to be happy, and make other people happy."

Essex Court, Rebecca said, feels like a "Narnia of kids playing in the streets, running up and down the block." 

"Our friends would come over and be like, 'This reminds me of when I was a kid and we'd play outside until the lights turned on,'" she said. "It's something you'd see in an earlier era."

'So pure'

Logan played a starring role in the fun. 

Not long after the Coyles moved to the neighborhood in 2021, Logan and his twin sister Riley found a new best friend: Adela Saborido. She was the same age and lived on the block. The friends often drove around the block in their electric toy Jeeps.

"They're magnetic," Adela's mother, Rocio Saborido, said of the twins. "It's not like you needed to arrange a playdate. It was just very organic. Like, 'Oh, we're going to go and play now,'"

Logan got to know the adults in the area, too. He'd chat with one neighbor as she worked in her garden. He befriended the mailman. At home, he would crawl on top of his mother and "start telling you about his day, or start asking questions about your day."

"He was so pure," Rebecca said. "He had no agenda. He just wanted to share, he wanted to check in."

Naturally, Logan was a fan of professional sports mascots. He developed close bonds with Mr. and Mrs. Met; Sparky the Dragon (Islanders); and Swoop (Philadelphia Eagles), among others. 

But he was closest with his twin.

Logan and Riley were in different classes at South Salem Elementary School. Every day, during recess, they would reunite on the blacktop with a hug, Principal Pia Ferrante said.

"It was like them running to each other like a love story on a beach," Ferrante said, chuckling. "All he wanted was love and hugs." 

 Neighborhood rose to the occasion

When Logan got sick, the neighborhood mobilized. Rebecca and her husband, Jeff, would find meals at their doorstep, along with flowers, books and school supplies for Riley. When the Coyles needed to shuttle Logan to impromptu medical appointments, Saborido would pick up Riley from school, or invite her to sleep over. 

About a year before Logan died, the block hosted a car wash to raise money for his treatment.  

"People watched over us," Rebecca said, "so we could watch over Logan."

In his final months, Logan looked different. His blond hair was gone, and he would fall asleep in a comfy chair in the front yard, listening to the sound of the neighborhood chatter. But he remained "the glue," Saborido said. Her daughter would push him around in his wheelchair.

"He was very optimistic," Adela, 10, said. "I remember sitting him with at lunch every day. He always ate Cheerios. After he ate Cheerios, he would go to the nurse. I would try to finish my sandwich before he came back, like a race."

An enduring legacy

Hepatoblastoma is the most common type of childhood liver cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. It forms in the tissues of the liver, and it typically affects children younger tha n  3.

Dr. Mercedes Martinez, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said Logan had a "rare presentation" of hepatoblastoma: He was diagnosed at an older age than most patients, and it was quite advanced, she said.

After undergoing a multivisceral liver transplant, he suffered from bone marrow failure, which "prevented completion of the planned chemotherapy," Martinez said

He required "daily platelet transfusions and frequent red blood cell transfusions," Martinez said, but "the tumor ultimately recurred and progressed with the development of bone metastases."

Adela still wears a bracelet her mother had made for her, featuring a photo of her with Logan and Riley. She won't rewear the jacket she wore to Logan's wake, and when she travels, she brings along a framed photo of herself with the twins that sits in her room.

The Saboridos' home abuts the Nassau Knolls Cemetery in Port Washington, where Logan is buried. Saborido encourages Adela and her 13-year-old brother, Xavi, to visit.

"He was always out and about, and he continues to be present, even after his death," Rebecca said. "It's nice to have him so close by."

Rebecca makes regular visits to Logan's grave to fill him in on what's going on. She told him about the Eagles first win of the NFL season, and about how she conquered her fear of public speaking to share his story with the North Hempstead Town Board. 

"I called upon him to give me strength, and find the right words, to communicate his story," she said.

After Riley's first day of school last month — her first without her brother — Rebecca was a "mess," she said. So she went somewhere to find peace.

She went to the cemetery to talk to her son. 

By Joshua Needelman

joshua.needelman@newsday.com

Joshua Needelman covers the Town of North Hempstead for Newsday. A Long Island native and University of Maryland graduate, his work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.