Boy, 12, Died of Brain Aneurysm. During His Last Conscious Moments, Best Friend Held Him and Called His Mom

A 12-year-old boy died from a brain aneurysm shortly after collapsing while trick-or-treating on Halloween night. As his parents grieve their funny, music-loving son—who dreamed of helping others—they are holding close the memory of his best friend, who stayed with him through his final moments.

“We’re so happy to know that his last moments of consciousness were with his closest friends,” says his mother, Megan Skalina. Her son, Dylan, suffered a medical emergency at a friend’s home in Phoenix, Arizona. Around him were the people he loved most, including his best friend, Ella.

“She didn’t leave his side at the hospital,” Megan, 41, says. “And neither did his sisters.” Dylan is survived by three sisters: Kaylie, 18, Nova, 17, and Lexi, 16.

On October 31, Dylan spent the day with Ella before heading out to trick-or-treat. After meeting up with other kids, he began to feel unwell and stopped at a friend’s house, thinking he simply needed a break because of his Type 1 diabetes.

But his condition quickly worsened. Dylan clutched his head in pain and started vomiting. Ella helped him down onto the floor, yet he kept getting sick any time he tried to sit up.

Recognizing something was seriously wrong, Ella called Megan on FaceTime. “He doesn’t look right. I’m going to call 911,” Megan recalls Ella saying.

As Dylan’s parents raced to the house, Ella held him in her arms—even after paramedics arrived. “Without Ella, I feel like we wouldn’t have really had those last moments with him,” Megan says. “She was quick on her feet and realized he needed help.”

At the hospital, Dylan’s CT scan wasn’t even completed before Megan saw an ER doctor sprint past. Working in the medical field, she overheard urgent orders for surgery and understood that the situation was far more dire than anyone had thought.

“Eventually, they came and let me know that he had a massive brain bleed,” she says.

Dylan suffered two brain bleeds in total. He was transferred to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where he was declared brain-dead three days later.

Doctors told the family that another of Dylan’s known conditions—Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS)—may have contributed to the fatal aneurysm. The genetic disorder affects connective tissue, leading to hyper-flexible joints and fragile skin, according to the Mayo Clinic.

“Because his vasculature was so weak, he probably had a tear or a leak in one of the layers,” Megan explains. “And then that bled into the other layers causing the bulge, which is the aneurysm, and then it burst.”

The Skalinas were devastated to learn nothing could save their son. Still, they found a measure of comfort in knowing Dylan could donate his organs—something he had talked about with friends before.

“These kids, some of the conversations they have amaze me,” Megan says. “He just knew that he would always want to help people no matter what.”

To become a donor, Dylan was kept in a medically induced coma for several days. During that time, friends and family gathered for a candlelight vigil at the hospital. Many came to say goodbye, including classmates and friends. When Megan told Dylan’s friend Matty that “he can hear you,” the boy shared the story of how they first met.

The vigil deeply moved Dylan’s family and felt like a final tribute to his generous spirit. Through organ and tissue donation—and through research connected to those gifts—Dylan is expected to help more than 300 people.

His parents believe he would be especially proud that his pancreas will go to diabetes research. “That is probably making him smile pretty big,” Megan says.

In a statement, Dylan’s doctor, Matt Carter, MD, said he is always humbled when families make such a decision in the midst of unimaginable grief.

“Knowing this is what Dylan wanted, the family reached beyond their pain to offer a gift that will save and enhance the lives of many individuals they may never know,” Carter said. “This is a profound act of kindness and compassion in an unimaginably difficult moment.”

As the family prepared Dylan’s memorial service, held on November 23, they reflected on their “selfless” son—who, they learned from Ella after his death, had hoped to become a trauma nurse one day.

“He was probably the most helpful person I knew, either a child or an adult,” says Dylan’s father, Ari. Hearing about Dylan’s dream career didn’t surprise him.

Dylan’s drum teacher arranged for a marching band to perform at the reception following the Sunday service, honoring the boy’s love of music.

Even with the outpouring of support, Megan and Ari say the weeks since Halloween have been heartbreaking. “We weren’t planning on making funeral plans for our 12-year-old,” Ari says.

The family has decided to have Dylan cremated—something he had mentioned to his mother just a couple of weeks before his death while they watched a documentary together.

“I would want to be cremated,” Megan remembers him saying, “so that I would never have to leave you.”