DETROIT — “He babbled all the time, so I knew he was going to be a focal person because, he always wanted to talk”, said Constance Spight. Spight reflects on her son Brandon who she and her husband Virgi described as a “Gift from God”.
Brandon was a standout student athlete at U of D Jesuit High School and had a gift for talking and golfing.
“He never complained about anything hurting him,” Spight says. “In 2007, was complaining of headaches and I said, ‘yeah mom, I keep having these headaches’. So, one day she took him to the doctor and after a series of test and multiple doctor examinations, then the news they didn’t want to hear.
At the age of only 17, Brandon was diagnosed with a rare brain disorder.
“We (Virgil) both a difficulty talking about it, but we were both devasted and couldn’t believe it,” she adds.
Brandon was in his senior year of high school. His parents had still held on to hope he’ll get better. They were thinking next steps, perhaps therapy, but one night, Brandon had to be rushed to the hospital.
“The night that they induced a coma, my hope started to fade. Virgil didn’t say much, but I could tell he was in a lot of pain.”
Just days before his 18th birthday, Brandon passed away.
Fast forward to today, his mother is inspired to author a book, Letters to my Departed Son. The read shares the personal letters of a grieving mother to her beloved son as he battled his health challenge.
“People were always complimenting him,” said Virgil Spight, who says his son could always find the light and hope in someone day. Mr. Spight still finds it difficult to talk about this the loss of his son. “I could take down a criminal and risk my life with not a lot of emotion behind it as a tough guy,” as he described his years on the Detroit Police force. “But, losing Brandon, I’ve never cried so much.”
Brandon was a giver and well before became ill, organ donation was a family conversation some years earlier. Brandon was all for it. It’s a part of the legacy he lives behind and now a scholarship in his name.
“He’s a giver so he would want us to do something like this so someone else can go to that school,” said Mrs. Spight.
Despite some time that has passed since Brandon’s death, it can still be hard to go another Mother’s Day without him.
“Mother’s Day is rough is rough. It’s a tough one. There was some days enough after that, that I said, ‘Okay, I don’t want to do anything. I’ll just do nothing”, said Mrs. Spight.
But she is doing something, along with her husband – together keeping Brandon’s memories and legacy alive.
For more information on Brandon Lee Spight Memorial Foundation and book purchasing, visit www.planbspight.org
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