SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (KPHO/Gray News) — A family in Arizona is finding a silver lining in a time of grief and tragedy.
Dylan Skalina, 12, was pronounced brain dead after suffering a ruptured brain aneurysm on Halloween night.
Now, he will help save hundreds of lives by being an organ donor.
Loved ones said he was looking forward to Halloween before things took a turn for the worse.
“Dylan wasn’t feeling great, but I think he thought it was his blood sugar,” Megan Skalina, Dylan’s mother, said.
Dylan, a type 1 diabetic, did not want to miss out on trick-or-treating with friends. But he began vomiting uncontrollably and developed a severe headache at a friend’s house, prompting a 911 call.
“They did a CT scan and realized he had a massive bleed in his brain,” Skalina said.
The ruptured aneurysm likely stemmed from Dylan’s Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder, according to doctors.
Dylan spent the next few days in a medically induced coma, surrounded by friends and family who celebrated his 13th birthday a bit early while he was hospitalized.
“And then on the (November) 3rd, he was pronounced brain dead,” his mother said.
The idea for organ donation came from someone who knew him best — Dylan’s friend, Ella.
“His friend Ella is the one who said to me, ‘Are we donating his organs?’ And I said, I hadn’t really thought about it. She goes, ‘I think that’s what he would want to do.’ And I said, I think you’re exactly right,” Skalina said.
The Skalina family said the decision reflects Dylan’s character, as the only boy among four siblings, he learned to be respectful and kind.
“He was always such a sweet kid and always trying to spend time with his sisters (and) get to know people,” Alexis Skalina, Dylan’s sister, said.
“I’m glad that he grew up with sisters. We were always on him about it. We were like, you can’t say that to a woman,” Kaylie Skalina, another one of Dylan’s sisters, said through laughter.
The Skalinas are raising money through a GoFundMe for funeral and hospital expenses. Some of Dylan’s organs will also be used for medical research.
“I think that that’s probably the most important thing for him in this tragic moment is being able to continue to help people,” his mother said.
Doctors say Dylan’s organ donation will help about 300 people.
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