Friends mourn Corona del Mar senior

Danette Goulet

CORONA DEL MAR -- He was known for his fun-loving nature and

distinctive laugh -- a joy to be around.

And so the community in Corona del Mar is still reeling from the shock

that 17-year-old Brian Campbell is gone.

“He was a happy-go-lucky kid, laughing all the time,” said Kathy

McKeever, whose son, Rory, was close friends with Campbell. “He stayed

over at our house many weekends with our son. He was a pleasure to be

around. It always seems to happen to these wonderful kids. I just don’t

understand.”

A senior at Corona del Mar High School, Campbell fell Saturday night

and hit his head when he was getting out of a friend’s car. The blow that

didn’t even leave a mark on the handsome young man caused a cerebral

hemorrhage that took his life, said his grandmother, Collene Campbell.

Doctors say the extreme reaction to hitting his head may mean that the

arteries in his brain had never healed properly from a surgery he had

when he was 6 months old, Collene Campbell said.

As an infant, he had brain surgery for an ear infection so rare that

it made the medical journals, she said. For the first 10 years of his

life, the boy was closely monitored.

“This bump, this freak accident, possibly caused a much greater

eruption than would have happened,” she said. “That’s what doctors

believe after going through tests. The brain stem was damaged because of

the rapid pressure.”

Doctors told his family there was nothing that could have saved the

boy.

At about 8 a.m. Tuesday, the family announced to a hospital waiting

room packed with students -- who had refused to leave the night before,

alternately praying and sleeping in the sterile room -- that he was

clinically dead.

“There must have been 200 kids in here come to say goodbye,” said his

grandmother, who is a former San Juan Capistrano councilwoman who has

seen tragedy before with the murder of both her brother and son. “They

were all talking about his great heart and what a good kid he was.”

That was the mantra of who Campbell was.

“He was a great kid, really fun-loving and positive,” said Diane

Hockinson, whose son, Wes, had been friends with Campbell since the

eighth grade. “And he just had a great smile -- just real upbeat.”

Another parent, Joe McKeever, said Campbell could always be counted on

to say something funny and make those around him smile.

Although the boy who loved to snowboard and water ski is gone, he made

sure that a part of him would live on.

In his 17 years, Campbell knew two recipients of heart transplants,

his grandmother said.

The first, an 8-year-old boy named Connor, received a new heart at 2

months old and adored Campbell. The second, 67-year-old Vern Parton, at

the age of 65 gained the heart of a 19 year old.

“Brian was with the two of them just a short while ago, and we talked

about what a courageous and fantastic gift it was,” Collene Campbell

said. “And Brain sat down with his mother and told her that when he died,

he wanted his organs to be donated.”

Even as his family makes those final arrangements, they say they are

proud of who he was.

A memorial service, at which many students have asked to speak, will

be held at 3 p.m. Saturday at Rosehills in the Memorial Chapel, 3888

Workman Mill Road, Whittier.

“He was our hero,” Collene Campbell said. “He made everyone laugh.

He’ll never have an 18th birthday party so the kids want to give

celebration to his life. He would have been 18 in March.”