AUS Marine’s Valentine’s Day getaway with his girlfriend turned into tragedy after he suffered a deadly fall while skateboarding, WLOS reported.
Cody Brand, a 21-year-old Marine, was skateboarding in Ashville, North Carolina when he fell. After contacting paramedics, his girlfriend immediately called Brand’s mother Gayle in Florida to tell her about the accident.
According to Gayle Brand, her son’s girlfriend said Cody was skateboarding downhill when he lost control and hit his head, leaving him “unconscious and unresponsive.” Brand told WLOS that she tried to ask questions of the paramedics to find out how bad Cody’s injuries were.
WLOS reported that the paramedics at the scene were able to restore Cody’s heartbeat before transporting him to Mission Hospital.
Meanwhile, Gayle, who lives in Palm Beach, Florida, set out for Ashville to be with her son. During the trip, Gayle received a call from the hospital informing her that Cody would not survive. She told WLOS that the doctor who spoke with her said that Cody’s brain injury is the most severe type someone can sustain.
After arriving at the hospital in Ashville and seeing her son, Gayle knew that she would lose him. Cody died at 11:17 pm on Valentine’s Day.
Gayle told WLOS that her son was an organ donor, and as devastating as his death is, both she and Cody’s father believe being an organ donor is important.
Gayle described her son as someone who wanted to be challenged which is why he joined the US Marine Corps. She said throughout his life, Cody was adventurous, enjoying everything from snorkeling to skateboarding. She told WLOS that it was a shock to her that something Cody had been doing for years was the cause of his death.
Adding that she hadn’t yet processed that her son was gone, Gayle told WLOS that she couldn’t have asked for a better son.
The US Marines ensured that Cody’s body returned to Florida where he would be buried.
