Welcome to Max Burdette.com

This is Max's memorial site, a place to share some thoughts and pictures of a great guy who was taken from us way too soon by a rare form of liver cancer. Max always lived life to the fullest, and after his cancer diagnosis he crammed a lifetime into two short years. He learned how to ride a motorcycle, which was his passion. He turned 16 and got his driver’s license and his first car. He had a girlfriend that he loved dearly. He went parasailing and learned to blow glass. This is his story. If you knew Max, please enjoy some memories. If not, please learn about how a very young person became a very brave soul.

Who are you guys?

  • Max Burdette

    Rugby player. Tae Kwon Do Black Belt. Biker. Honor student. Musician. Artist. Duct Tape Afficionado. Whip maker. Glass blower. All around good guy.

  • Max's Family

    Sister Nicole, Brother Alec, Abby the Golden. Grandmother Omi.

  • Max's Cat

    Dixie the cat. Loved Max dearly. Doesn't much care for anyone else. She misses Max.

some of Max's favorite things

An assortment of thoughts and memories

We’re Max’s family. We’re building this site as a memorial to our son and brother as a way to show our love, and keep our memories focused. We appreciate your visiting, and hope you’ll take some time to get to know Max. Thank you.

  • Max playing rugby

    Max loved playing rugby. As the tallest player on his team, he'd be lifted by his teammates to tip the ball when it was thrown in bounds. He was all smiles whenever that play happened.

  • Max in his cowboy boots

    Like many kids, Max wanted to be a cowboy. He was so happy and proud with his first pair of boots, partner.

  • From boots to saddle

    Cowboy boots call for other stuff. The problem is when you're five, a horse can be a very intimidating critter. Max decided the cowboy stuff could wait, and later switched from horses to horsepower.

  • Grown out of fear

    Max finally overcame his fear of horses and is pictured here with two that lived in a stall on his aunt Steffi’s farm.

We remember Max in pictures and prose.

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The saga of the motorcycles

Max was diagnosed with FHC was he was 15 years old. He tried to continue to go to school, but we soon realized that it was almost impossible with his schedule at St. Jude and the way he felt after his chemo. I tried to keep working, too. That meant Max was stuck at home all day without a way to get around. We were talking about it one day and stumbled upon the idea of Max getting a motorcycle license. The minimum age to get a motorcycle license in Tennessee is 15, so we started looking around for a couple of bikes. Our close friend, Bryan, helped us quite a bit. We didn’t know anything about motorcycles. At the same time that we were looking for bikes to buy, we signed up for a motorcycle safety course at a local community college: Max, his brother Alec, and me. The only one who was left out was Max’s sister, Nicole, but she was only 12 years old at the time and had no interest in motorcycles. So three of us headed off to biker safety school.