‘I’m going to miss her, everything about her’
Crash victim’s rare blood type means donated organs will transform lives
Brylee Currie had put her 2-year-old son to bed just before heading out for a Friday night with friends. It would be the last time she saw her son, Charlie, before a crash changed everything.
The 20-year-old died in hospital on Sunday afternoon after suffering severe injuries in a single-car crash in Ko¯mata, near Paeroa, on Friday night.
Emergency services were called to the scene, on State Highway 26, after reports that a vehicle had rolled about 7.40pm.
Currie suffered critical injuries and was taken to Waikato Hospital, where her life support was turned off on Sunday.
Her mother, Debbie Currie, told the Herald she would miss everything about her daughter — the good, the bad and the ugly.
“Her . . . I’m just going to miss her, everything about her,” she said.
“That beautiful smile. She was really a kind, caring girl. She was a beautiful daughter. She loved her son and she was a great friend.”
Known as “Brys” to her loved ones, the young mum had been on her way to Paeroa to enjoy a few drinks with a group of friends.
She planned to leave her car there and stay the night. The family found out an hour later she had been involved in a devastating accident.
Debbie said her daughter, a donor, had a rare blood type, AB negative, and so the decision was made to donate Brylee’s organs.
Her voice breaking, Debbie said she was happy that her daughter’s special gift would help save up to three lives.
AB negative is the rarest of all eight blood groups, shared by only 1 per cent of New Zealanders.
One donor can transform the lives of up to 10 people waiting for transplants of hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys, pancreas, eye tissue, heart valves and skin.
Family members are now rallying to support and raise Charlie.
“She was a great mum to Charlie. He was just the light of her life,” Debbie said.
The family did not know the circumstances that led to the crash, whether Brylee may have been going too fast, was reaching out to get something she had dropped, or simply grabbed her phone for some reason.
Debbie said texting and driving was something her daughter was very much against, but “you never know”.
Brylee had a brother, Trent, and two stepbrothers, James and Alex.
Friends of the young woman have also come together to support the extended family.
“It was like a train station at the hospital,” Debbie said.
Friends have paid tribute to Brylee publicly online, while best friend Dannielle Barker has set up a Givealittle page in her honour.
Currie’s family said they were touched by the act and would be putting all the donations into an account for young Charlie.
The family are not holding a funeral for Brylee but a memorial service is being planned to remember the young mum.
The Serious Crash Unit is still investigating the circumstances of the crash.