KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — On Friday, May 27 the Knox County Sheriff's Office said 26-year-old James Barnwell drowned in Fort Loudon Lake in his backyard in West Knox County.
The victim's name on paper is James Barnwell, but his family and friends knew him as Thomas - a young man full of love and loyalty to those he cared about.
"He loved with everything he had," said Elizabeth Barnwell Thompson, Thomas's younger sister.
"I have no doubt that he would sacrifice himself for any of us," Brittney Barnwell Fontenot added, one of Thomas's older sisters.
The Barnwell family said his life changed forever after a skateboarding accident gave him a traumatic brain injury in 2013.
"Thomas fell off his longboard with no helmet and cracked his head," Alex Barnwell said, the victim's father. "He was put into a chemical coma... so his brain wouldn't swell and kill him... and then he had the brain surgery... his brain pressure started reducing and he started getting better."
Thomas' family said the young man they knew before was gone after the injury.
"That frontal lobe injury that he had, that affects your reasoning, it affects your emotions," his father said. "It's almost like he was a nine-year-old in a 26-year-old's body."
Thomas relearned to walk, talk, and eat, but even with all these wins memory issues and seizures plagued his mental health, according to the Barnwell family.
"I called lots and lots of places, and we tried a lot of different things," his mother Laura Barnwell said. "There were things that would help for a little bit, but then long term not a lot really helped."
"He remembered what he was like before and understood that he would never be like that again, and he hated it," his sister Brittney added. "He was angry about it and his life was just really hard."
The Barnwell family said Thomas's road recovery ended when he had a seizure while mowing the lawn in their backyard last Friday.
The lawn mower rolled into the lake, taking Thomas with it.
Police found him dead that night.
"Laura saw the lawnmower turned upside down on the lake and immediately, we both knew what had happened," his father said. "Of course, that's heartbreaking because you just lost your son, you know?"
The memory of Thomas lives on through writings on the wall and a handwritten contract on his parents' dresser that said "If I ever die from anything, I do not want my dogs to be gotten rid of. For no reason."
Barnwell's parents, Alex and Laura signed the contract and the dogs help the entire family cope.
"They're very loyal...big and muscular...and they got a big hard head just like Thomas," said Brittney Barnwell Fontenot.
The Barnwell family has broken hearts, but move forward with closure.
"I'm absolutely devastated that he's not here but I'm so happy for him," said Thomas's mother. "He doesn't have a brain injury anymore... he's free from all of the suffering that he had to go through here. I wouldn't want him back the way he was because I want him to be happy and I wanted the best for him... and right now he's happy."
The Barnwell's ask people to donate to The Bart Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to helping people with traumatic brain injuries.