Newport Beach Teenager Dies 2 Days After Striking Head

A popular Newport Beach teen whose friends had kept a prayer vigil for him for two days as he lay comatose has died.

Brian Campbell, 17, died at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, a spokeswoman said.

“We are all just devastated,” said Colleen Campbell, Brian’s grandmother and a former mayor of San Juan Capistrano.

The youth had been hospitalized after an incident about 11 p.m. Saturday when he tripped, fell and apparently struck his head while getting out of a car. Seeing that he was unconscious, the two friends who were with him took him home, and his mother immediately transported him to the hospital.

A spokesman for the Orange County coroner’s office said an autopsy is scheduled for this morning.

Colleen Campbell said doctors think her grandson’s death may be related to head surgery he had as a baby to relieve pressure caused by an ear infection that had spread to the brain.

“They believe that possibly the vein behind the skull where the surgery was may have been weakened,” she said. “It was a light bump--most people would have just said ‘ouch’ and walked away. But when Brian hit his head, it just exploded that vein, causing immediate damage to the brain stem.”

As word of the teen’s condition spread at Corona del Mar High School, where he was a senior, about 200 of his classmates held a vigil for him in the lobby and chapel of the hospital. One teacher even held class in the hospital chapel, Colleen Campbell said.

“Brian had the biggest heart in the world,” his grandmother said Tuesday of the avid surfer and off-road motorcyclist who wanted to be an architect. “He was sensitive, caring, generous and loving. If somebody was ill, it would be Brian who would be there to help them out.”

Funeral services for Brian are set for 3 p.m. Saturday at the Memorial Chapel of Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier. Besides his grandmother and his mother, Shelly Campbell, the teenager is survived by grandfather Gary Campbell, older sister Melissa and younger brother Eddie.

The family has suffered a number of tragedies. Brian’s uncle, Scott Campbell, was murdered in 1982 during a robbery aboard a private airplane. And the boy’s great-uncle, well-known racing promoter Mickey Thompson, and great-aunt, Trudy Thompson, were gunned down in front of their San Gabriel Valley mansion in 1988. Despite widespread publicity, the case remains unsolved.