Parsippany Teen Succumbs to Brain Cancer Battle

After 11 years of battling, Parsippany’s Peter Hebberd died on Friday, Jan. 2.

He was 17.

The Parsippany Hills High School student underwent more than a dozen surgeries in 11 years to fight brain cancer, but it was his final procedure that would prove to be his last.

According to his mother, Roxanne Hebberd, who wrote a journal entry on the website caringbridge.org the morning of Jan. 3, “Our angel Peter Edward Hebberd joined Jesus late last evening as a result of complications during surgery to correct a malfunctioning Ommaya reservoir. Our hearts are heavy, but we know he lives on in us, his immediate and extended family, his friends and as a believer, has eternal life in Christ.”

During his more-than-decade-long battle, Hebberd underwent three rounds of chemotherapy, a feeding tube, medi-port, staph infection, and more than 50 MRIs.

Hebberd was beloved by the Parsippany-Troy Hills school community, which put on a “Peter Week” in mid-December, with students and faculty across the entire district wearing blue in honor of the teen and donating to his ongoing medical fight.

A GoFundMe donation page, which can be seen here, was established for Hebberd and had garnered $4,900 in the two months leading up to Dec. 11. In the time since, it has raised a total of $10,085, easily surpassing its $9,000 goal.

Roxanne Hebberd’s post continued, taking solace in faith, saying, “He, and we are at peace, knowing he is in the presence of his Father.”

A celebration of Hebberd’s life has been set for 11 a.m. on Jan. 24 at Grace Presbyterian Church, 153 Grove Street in Montclair.