After fatal accident, family takes comfort in son’s final gift

Kyle Cryblskey always had a tender, giving heart.

At age 4, Kyle sobbed when “his” cows were hauled away from the family farm in Battle Ground. At age 14, he began donating blood after a friend fighting leukemia died. At age 16, he bottle fed and cared for a newborn kitten abandoned by its mother.

At age 23, two days before he died, Kyle cared for his mother who was feeling ill from migraines. He drove her to the doctor. Held her hand as he walked her back into the house and to her bed. Made her soup before heading back to work. Told her he loved her.

Two days later, on the day he died, Kyle gave his snowboarding helmet to his girlfriend to wear since she didn’t have one.

When Kyle crashed on a big jump that night on Feb. 13, 2010, he died instantly. The helmet wouldn’t have saved him; his neck was broken.

But Kyle’s final act of giving was no surprise to his mother, Deborah Cryblskey.

“How many people can go through a day and not think about themselves?” Deborah said. “He never did. He had no ego.”

It was also no surprise to Deborah that her big-hearted son had a little red heart on his driver’s license. Years earlier, Kyle made it clear he wanted to be an organ and tissue donor.

Fifteen minutes after Deborah and her husband, Joe, received the call that their youngest son had died, they received a second call. This one from a tissue donation organization.

Initially, Deborah was confused. Her son had died instantly. How could any of his organs be used? But then she learned that Kyle’s eyes and tissues — his skin, bones, heart valves, tendons, veins — could be harvested.

“I always thought it was just organs,” Deborah said. “But that little heart means so much more.”

Then, Deborah became angry. She was still trying to process her son’s death, and now she was being peppered with questions about his health and lifestyle habits.

“You go from, ‘What the hell just happened?’ to ‘What do you mean harvest?’ ” Deborah said.

“I was falling apart.”

Joe took the phone and answered the questions about Kyle: Was he a smoker? Did he do drugs? Was he sick? Had he broken any bones?

At the time, Deborah couldn’t appreciate the gift her son was giving to others. Later, she realized how important his donation was to saving and improving the lives of others.

Then, she became proud of her son’s selflessness.

“What if it was Kyle that needed something?” Deborah said. “I would be overwhelmed with love and appreciation to receive anything that would save my child from blindness or pain or cancer.”

At six years since his death, Deborah still feels the pain of losing her son, though it has eased some over the years. She still has some terrible days. And she doesn’t like Valentine’s Day — the holiday Kyle and his girlfriend were celebrating at the mountain.

But Deborah does find comfort that even in his death, Kyle continued to give.

After Kyle’s death, Deborah learned that his corneas had been harvested and were used. She doesn’t know what, if any, tissues were harvested or used, and it doesn’t really matter, she said.

All that matters is Kyle’s wish to help others was honored.

“Kyle saw the world in a good way,” Deborah said. “So maybe now somebody else can see the world in a good way.”