Tyrese Van Koughnett-Melanson had dreams of being a carpenter, making lots of money and racing his BMX bike in the Olympics.
He liked school, was popular with his peers, and his teachers saw a bright future in him and encouraged him to pursue a career as a tradesman.
At the BMX track, the younger riders gravitated to his kind ways and smiling face. As one of the expert riders, he went out of his way to help them and took great satisfaction in sharing his experiences. Young or old, he just loved lending people a helping hand. Those qualities made Tyrese and his six-year-old brother Kody Shiels inseparable. He was Kody's hero.
On July 9, Tyrese died at age 13, possibly as a result of head injuries he suffered two weeks earlier in a practice ride at the Supertrak BMX Club track in Prince George. The exact cause of his death has yet to be determined by the B.C. Coroners Service.
Tyrese had only been racing BMX for two years. His stepfather, Darcy Shiels, was also his coach and recorded his races. Together they would pick apart segment of each race to try to improve on his technique. Fellow rider Brady Anderson, 17, one of the top racers in B.C., was impressed with how quickly Tyrese learned.
"The kid was stoked to race - he was a real up-and-coming kid with a lot of potential," said Anderson. "Over the last couple months I just watched him excel. He rode with me mostly and he told his mom he wanted to follow what I was doing. His goal was to make it to the Olympics, pretty much the same as me. Whatever he saw us (older riders) doing he took into consideration and put towards helping other kids and he was great out there."
Like Anderson, Tyrese wanted to earn a coveted No. 1 plate, a privilege given the following season to the returning national age group champion of each age class.
'It just went wrong...'
"As soon as the gate drops, the bullshit stops," was Tyrese's favorite saying. He was the top rider in the BC02 District 13-year-old expert class until his accident, June 24. He had just finished his races that day and like most riders hung around the track for some practice laps.
"It just went wrong from Day 1," said Tyrese's mother, Richelle Shiels. "When he crashed, the members from the track here who have first aid responded quickly and these guys were worried his jaw, neck and back were broken. He hit his head so hard he knocked himself out and had a seizure.
"When (B.C. Ambulance Service paramedics) looked at Tyrese they said he didn't have any neck or back injuries. He had just come conscious when they showed up and he was just out of it. They pulled him up by his arms and made him walk back to the stretcher.
"They took him to the hospital and laid him on the bed without a neck brace and they told me there's a possibility he could have bleeding on the brain. I begged for a CT scan and they said no, they don't like to do that to young kids because it could give them cancer. Finally they did the CT scan and told me it was normal and kept him overnight."
'They said he was fine...'
After extensive examinations, Tyrese was released the day after the accident, despite Richelle's protests. She wanted him sent to B.C. Children's Hospital (BCCH) in Vancouver for more tests and an MRI scan, where he could be checked by a brain specialist, but she said that request was denied.
"When they let Tyrese out of that hospital he was staggering," Richelle said. "I said, 'Are you sure he should be leaving like this?' and they said he was fine."
Tyrese missed the next two weeks of racing and was targeting a return to the track on July 9, the day he died. On July 8 he was at Ness Lake with his family, tubing on the lake, and was sitting on the tube when he fell into the water.
"Tyrese asked if he could go on the tube and I told him I didn't think it was a good idea -- something inside of me didn't feel right," said Richelle. "He told me he was OK. He knew his body and knew he'd be safe and he hadn't been complaining of headaches."
As soon as Tyrese fell in, a man with lifeguarding skills dove in to pull him out of the lake and was joined in the water by Tyrese's uncle Lonnie and Darcy Shiels. Once he was back in the boat,Tyrese had another seizure.
He was brought to UHNBC about an hour after the 911 call was made and he was flown to Vancouver and taken to BCCH. Richelle arrived at 2:30 a.m. and was told a half-hour later that Tyrese's brain was so swollen it was not receiving blood and there were no signs of brain function.
"They said if it was caught in time they could cut the skull open to release the pressure but Tyrese's brain was so swollen they couldn't do that, they said they didn't even try," said Richelle.
Tyrese loved swimming and hiking and was big on basketball. He played for the school team at Edgewood elementary, where he was an honours student. He would have attended Duchess Park secondary and it was his goal to win the Timberwolves scholarship, the same award his cousin Mercedes won before she went on to a stellar university career at UNBC.
"He was overall just an awesome kid, anything he tried he excelled at and his parents have something to be proud of," said Trina Sumners, whose 10-year-old son Cole befriended Tyrese.
Four-year-old son Lucas Manson told his mom Jen how he liked having Tyrese around to hold him in the start gate or show him how to approach a jump. He wanted to be just like him.
"He was amazing with my son, he was so willing to help anybody who needed help around the track," said Manson. "As a rider rep he was right in there explaining how the rules worked to some of the new riders. He was like one of the bosses."
Club members raised money for the family to help pay for Tyrese's burial and all the riders paid their respects with a memorial ride around the track. On Saturday they held their Race For Life event, collecting donations for the B.C. Children's Hospital Foundation for blood cancer research. Sunday in the Gold Cup races, Kody Shiels paid the ultimate tribute to his brother. He finished up with a win and two second-place finishes in the six-year-old intermediate class.
Richelle made the decision before Tyrese was taken off life-support to allow him to become an organ donor. Six of his organs were transplanted into waiting patients.
"I believe with my whole heart that's what Tyrese would have wanted," said Richelle. "He loves kids and people so much that if he had the chance to help them he would."
