Liam "Trip" Nugent

Liam Nugent, born November 29, 1997, was known as "Trip" to almost everyone. He was kind, funny, and genuinely cared about the people around him. Not in a loud or showy way, but in the quiet, steady way that only the truly good ones do. He showed up for others without being asked, stood by those who needed it most, and had a rare gift for leaving a lasting mark on everyone he met.

He was a country boy at heart who loved fishing, hunting, and riding his ATV. He played hockey from the age of 4 all the way through to 21, a passion that ran as deep as his roots. Alongside that love of the outdoors and the ice, Trip also had a natural curiosity and a creative side. He loved all genres of music and had recently started learning to play the guitar and the keyboard, wanting to try something new to express himself.

He attended Algonquin College in Ottawa where he earned a business diploma, sharing an entrepreneurial spirit with his brother. Together, in their early twenties, they built a clothing brand, Concrete Collective, grounded in the belief that everything meaningful is built from the ground up. That journey gave them something even more valuable than a brand. It gave them a shared adventure, a deep friendship, and memories that will never fade - including the release of a collaborative collection with his hometown hockey team, the Ottawa Senators.

In the summer of 2019, what first seemed like flu-like symptoms (fatigue, headaches, and simply just not feeling like himself) quickly became something far more serious. After multiple doctor visits and no improvement, Trip took himself to a walk-in clinic to get things checked out once again. It was there they began to do his bloodwork and noticed something was very wrong with his white blood cell count. Trip called his mom Tammy from the clinic telling her that he needed to go to the hospital right away as things sounded urgent.

He was admitted that day, on July 24th, and quarantined immediately. His family had to visit him in an isolated room, wearing what pretty much felt like hazmat suits, while washing their hands in between multiple doors to enter the room. It was shortly after, on July 26th, that Trip was officially diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Treatment began immediately, but the road ahead was about to get even more difficult. Complications, infections, and setbacks came one after another, and eventually Trip had a visit with the ICU that would last a lifetime.

On August 27th, 2019, just one month and one day after his diagnosis, Trip passed away. He was only 21 years old. For his family and friends, the shock was incomprehensible. Many of them never even got the chance to learn he was sick, as the news of his passing reached them before the news of his illness ever could. Everything had happened so fast, so suddenly, that there was no time to prepare, no time to process, no time to say the things you'd want to say. He was here, and then he was gone, and the world around him hadn't even caught up yet.