Phong Le was notorious among his friends for being the life of the party. Friends say he had a genuine care for others, a trait so powerful that it can never be forgotten by those who crossed his path.The 19-year-old aerospace engineering major died Dec. 19 after losing a hard-fought battle with non-Hodgkin highly aggressive lymphoma, a cancer that resides in the lymph nodes and blood stream.
The aspects of life Le valued the most were his family, friends and education, Tiffani Le said of her son.
“Phong was a very caring and outgoing individual who was always friendly and smiling,” she said.
“If you met Phong, you will never forget him.” Some of his favorite things to do included singing, playing video games, hanging out with friends and spending time with his family, his mother said. He also enjoyed driving his car and had a particular fondness for Disney World.
“Phong was an amazing young man who touched the lives of many people,” she said. “He will never be forgotten by family and friends.”
Phong Le was diagnosed with lymphoma Oct. 30. The following day, he was moved from Ocean Springs Hospital to the University of Mississippi Medical Center. His support system of family and friends helped him cope as the cancer spread, with each day bringing new obstacles.
He created a Facebook group, “Phong’s Super Duper Cancer Support Group,” to update his friends on how he was doing day-to-day in the hospital. In an update on the group’s page, Le wrote, “Thank you so much for all of your support. I didn’t think I had that great of an impact on people. This really helps me as I go through this every day.”
Born in Pascagoula and raised in Ocean Springs, he also spent five years in Long Beach, Calif.
Le graduated in the top 25 percent of his class at Ocean Springs High School in 2006. He was a member of an honors society and a choir quartet. He sang in his high school choir for four years.
His plans were to graduate from Mississippi State University, then join the Air Force and become a pilot, Tiffani Le said.
Sarah Miller, a sophomore elementary education major at the University of Southern Mississippi, said Le was one of a kind. Miller, who met Le through her boyfriend in high school, said he was one of her best friends.
“I would always tell him how amazing he was, and he never thought he was. I hope he knows now,” she said.
Miller and Le became close when they sang together in the high school choir.
“I loved to listen to him sing,” she said. “He was a little guy, but he had an incredible bass voice. He had the voice of an angel.”
Le’s roommates said he was a flashy, vibrant person.
Roommate and sophomore mechanical engineering major Jeremiah Deang said, “He was so outgoing. He made everybody feel comfortable about anything.”
Roommate and sophomore electrical engineering major Amol Patel said Le was a thinker who enjoyed the simple things in life. Patel has known Le since middle school.
Roommate and sophomore economics major Blake Babin met Le when they both lived in Hathorn Hall their freshman year. Babin now lives in Le’s old room. He said Le’s pride for his Vietnamese heritage was one of his most interesting characteristics.
“He wanted everyone to know [about his heritage],” Babin said. “He always wanted everyone to ask him why he ate so much rice. I always asked him about his food.”
Roommate and sophomore mechanical engineering major Justin Thibodeaux, said the way Le was so comfortable around girls intrigued him.
“Even if he’d just met the girl, he’d pretend like he knew her or you’d think he knew her,” Thibodeaux said. “He was always like that with everybody.”
Patel said that Le loved to go to MSU football games and hang out with his friends. He was also a member of Rick’s Rowdies.
While Le was sick, one of the main things he worried about the most was missing a semester of school, Miller said.
“He always made straight A’s,” she said. “He was going to do something great in this world … something to help everyone.”
Miller said Le had the tendency of being emotional when it came to saying goodbye to those who were close to him.
At the end of a high school graduation party, Le told her that he was not going to say goodbye to any of his friends, because he knew he would see them all again. She asked him to say goodbye to her before he left.
“Before he left, I didn’t see him say goodbye to anyone else,” she said. “He came up to me, gave me a kiss on the cheek and told me goodbye. We both teared up a little but we tried to hide it. It really meant a lot to me that he did that.”
Le was buried Dec. 22 at Crestlawn Memorial Park in Ocean Springs. He is survived by his mother, father Henry Nguyen and 17-year-old sister Thuy, of Ocean Springs.