Firefighter / EMT Brian Mixson from Jasper County.
Jasper County, SC, Fire-Rescue
March 20 – The first respondents in Jasper County are mourning the unexpected death of a 14-year-old veteran firefighter and paramedic.
Brian Mixson died on Wednesday, March 17, after suffering a stroke, Jasper County Fire Rescue officials said in a press release.
Mixson felt a sudden headache during the service on March 5. Two days later, he had a change in his vision and was rushed to the hospital, before finally being admitted to the neuro-intensive care unit of a medical center in Savannah, officials said.
The headache was the start of a stroke, they said. On Tuesday, doctors diagnosed the firefighter with no brain activity, but Mixson remained on the life support device until medical staff could provide containers for his organs.
“While Brian lived, he passed – a servant of his fellow man,” said interim fire chief Russell Wells in a statement.
His “last act of overwhelming self-sacrifice and sacrifice” was the donation of his organs to those awaiting a transplant, Wells said.
Police, firefighters and other emergency teams organized tributes to the fallen fireman.
On Friday, deputies from the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office joined local firefighters to escort Mixson through Hardeeville and Ridgeland to the coroner’s office.
The Jasper County firefighters planned a walk of honor for Mixson at Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston at 1pm on Saturday. Then they will accompany Mixson to the Sauls funeral home in Bluffton.
The Mixson family will welcome guests at 1 pm Tuesday at Pine Level Baptist Church in Early Branch, before the celebration of the fireman’s life is scheduled for 2 pm.
The funeral procession will take Mixson to his final resting place at Sand Hill Baptist Church Cemetery in Varnville.
The Mixon family has asked for honorary donations to be made on behalf of Mixson to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.
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