EUGENE, Ore. — Jamie Heizelman wishes she had known that her 15-year-old grandson, Brandon Kimble, was so distraught, but no one came forward. By the time she learned that the boy she called “Honeybear” was feeling suicidal, he was already gone.
“He was so funny, he was a wonderful person, everyone in that school and the surrounding communities loved him,” Heizelman said. “Florence, Mapleton, Chemult, Brickerville, Deadwood — this baby was loved everywhere.”
Brandon, a Mapleton High School freshman and football player, hanged himself in his bedroom closet on the night of Dec. 1. Heizelman said she woke up around 3 a.m., and found the boy. His concerned black Labrador, Choco, was with him. Police later told Heizelman that Brandon had been dead for several hours.
Heizelman is determined to create awareness about teen suicide in her community and around the state. She said the image of her grandson’s heartbreaking death will not outweigh all of the “perfect memories” she has of him.
“I just want to make people aware so that if someone is talking about this (suicide), please tell someone so they can get help,” she said. “Even if you don’t think they’re going to do it, please tell someone.”
Heizelman said police found evidence on Brandon’s phone and Facebook that he had shared with some of his friends that he was thinking about killing himself. He even sent a photo of himself with a belt around his neck to at least one friend before he died.
“If someone would have tried to tell me he was feeling like this, I could have done something,” Heizelman said. “But I had no idea. At home, with me, he seemed happy.”
Heizelman has arranged for a representative from Lines for Life to speak at Kimble’s memorial service, which will take place in the school gym today.
Lines for Life is a nonprofit organization that helps prevent substance abuse and suicide, as well as promote mental health.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10 and 34 in Oregon, according to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention.
Mapleton School District Superintendent Jodi O’Mara said Wednesday that several counselors were made available to students at the high school the day after Brandon died, and that at least one counselor will be available at the school for several more days. District staff also participated in a grief training session Wednesday, which provided staff with ways to communicate with students and provide support for them after a suicide.
“This is something we need to talk about and not shy away from,” O’Mara said. “As educators we often talk about outside threats to students, and how students may hurt one another. But what we really don’t address is the threat of students hurting themselves, and it’s a conversation we all need to be having.”
About 50 students attend Mapleton High. O’Mara said Brandon was well-known among his peers and within the small community.
He was a wide receiver for the Mapleton Sailors football team. He was the 2016 homecoming prince.
Heizelman said that she had raised her grandson, the eldest of three children, for most of his life.
