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KENNEWICK -- Joel Diaz lived a full 10 years, enjoying time spent with family, reading, playing with Legos and watching Saturday morning cartoons.
He also had a strong faith and a great love for God, the Kennewick boy's parents said.
Joel died unexpectedly early Thursday, hours after falling into and over the handlebars of his bike, but his family is comforted knowing he's in Heaven.
"It doesn't take away the pain but it gives us peace," said Joel's father, Peter Diaz.
Joel's older brother, Adam, added: "It's just all in God's hands. It's all in his control. We miss Joel like no other. ... He gave us Joel and we had a great 10 years. We know it was his time."
Joel, who was homeschooled, was taking a break from studies around 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. He was riding his bike outside his family's Hansen Park home while his older brother, Eric, was teaching his 5-year-old sister, Anne, how to ride a bike, Peter Diaz said.
Joel turned his bike but jerked the handlebars too hard and fell into them, then went over, he said. The bike fell on top of him.
The boy began complaining of pain right away and his mother, Julie, immediately took him to Kennewick General Hospital's Urgent Care clinic on Grandridge Boulevard. Staff there told her they didn't have the proper equipment, so she took him to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland.
A bruise from the handlebars on Joe's stomach was the only sign of injury, his mother said.
"He didn't even have a scratch on his hand," she said.
Joel was in the emergency room for about three hours and had X-rays, ultrasound and blood work completed. He got sick three times while he was there and was in such pain he was given medicine through an IV, his mother said.
When the tests came back clear, Joel was sent home with a prescription for the painkiller Percocet. By the time he went to bed around 9 p.m., his pain level was down to a two on a scale of one to 10, but he was lethargic.
His parents took turns sitting with him, but called Kadlec around 12:30 a.m. Thursday when they noticed Joel was sweating and breathing funny, his mother said.
Hospital staff they talked to thought that could be symptoms from the pain medicine so Joel's parents just kept monitoring him.
"I sat with him, rubbing his leg and just loving him," Peter Diaz said.
About two hours later, Joel died.
He was talking to his dad one minute and the next he rolled over. Peter Diaz said when he rolled Joel back over, he saw his son wasn't breathing.
Julie called 911 while Peter started CPR. Joel was rushed to Kennewick General Hospital, but he couldn't be revived. He was in full cardiac arrest when he arrived at the emergency room at 2:50 a.m., said KGH spokeswoman Maggie Brown.
"You don't want to believe it. How does somebody die with all this medicine and technology around us?" Peter Diaz said.
"It's incredible. ... Everybody did the best possible job they could with the information they had at the time."
Federal medical privacy laws prevent the hospital from publicly discussing details about a patient's care, but Kadlec spokesman Jim Hall said Friday that hospital officials have reached out to the Diaz family to "share with them what we know."
An autopsy on Thursday showed Joel had trauma to his internal organs, said Benton County Coroner Rick Corson.
Corson said he did not know if Joel was wearing a helmet, but said the autopsy showed no head trauma. Joel's mother said he wasn't wearing a helmet.
Preliminary results show the death was accidental, but a final determination won't be made until lab test results are returned, Corson said. Dr. Daniel Selove, a forensic pathologist from Everett, conducted the autopsy.
On Friday, Joel's parents and older siblings remembered Joel for his quick wit, being "super creative" and seeing "the world like an artist."
He was always making up games for the kids, loved to dress up in costumes and was a thinker.
"He was a 10-year-old kid who got to be a kid," his father said.
Julie Diaz said her son was loving and very appreciative of everything -- even thanking his mother for something as simple as making a great dinner.
"Joel said to me just the other day, 'That was the greatest weekend of my life!' and I think every day was the best day of his life," Peter Diaz said.
"Everything was really like a gift for him. Every day was the greatest."
Jane, 19, remembered her brother running down the stairs to greet her when she came home from college at Central Washington University and wanting to make cookies he knew she liked.
And Adam, the oldest of Joel's five siblings, said Joel was very close with his brothers Eric, 12, and Evan, 8. He had his own room, but slept on the bunkbed each night in Evan's room, they said.
"They had just an amazing, tight relationship. ... They never wanted the other to miss out on an experience," Adam said. "They were very tight. That's what's ultimately been helping Evan. He knows Joel is happy where he is and said, 'If Joel's happy. I'm happy.' "
A graveside service is set for 2 p.m. Monday at Riverview Heights Cemetery, at 10th Avenue and Olympia Street in Kennewick. A memorial service will follow at 3 p.m. at Columbia Bible Church, 202 S. Van Buren, Kennewick.
Mueller's Tri-Cities Funeral Home in Kennewick is in charge of arrangements.
-- Paula Horton: 582-1556; phorton@tricityherald.com
