CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – It’s been almost a week since the car accident that ultimately killed Aynor High School student Alex Shibley, and his parents are turning the tragedy into an opportunity to help others.
“I don’t know where to go. I don’t know what to do,” said his mother, Crystal Shibley. She says she still can’t believe that the last time she spoke to her son, was the last time. “I was actually at Walmart and he called and he was like, ‘I guess I have to be home now, right?’ and I said, ‘No dinner’s at 7’. He goes, ‘Thank you, love you’. And I said, ‘Love you too.’
Just moments later, Alex crashed into a ditch off of Pee Dee Road in Gallivant’s Ferry. The accident was on Monday, and he passed away three days later. Crystal says every time she’s walked past his empty bedroom this week, she thought, “that he’s just over at a friend’s house and he’s coming back.”
On Sunday, dozens of Alex’s family, friends, and classmates gathered in his memory, at the exact spot his car crashed. Jami Stocks has been friends with Alex ever since they met in kindergarten. She says he was her first valentine, and they hadn’t left each other’s side since. “His parking spot was literally right beside mine at school. There’s nothing my whole life that he hasn’t done for me that I’ve asked. He’s never said no to me at all. He was always there.” Crystal adds, “he was always about helping people. Wanted to make them smile.”
Alex’s penchant for helping others is why his parents knew organ donation was the right decision. They originally wanted to donate his organs to Crystal’s mother, who has kidney failure. But when he wasn’t match, they decided, “just because he can’t help someone we know, doesn’t mean he can’t help.”
His organs will be donated to patients across the country, including pediatric patients at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Crystal says, this way, she’ll get to hang on to her son as he lives on in others. “I want him to help others. I want him to still graduate, to still get married . It’s amazing because my boy’s a hero. That’s what he would have wanted.”
If you would like to support Alex’s family by helping them with funeral costs, memorials, and any medical expenses, you can donate at their GoFundMe page, https://www.gofundme.com/yaboishibs.
