From Midland Reporter-Telegram:

Patrick Wayland was always the one everybody looked up to. As a high school athlete he was a leader, as a student, he was known as the hard worker and as a Marine, he was the one always willing to put everyone else's needs ahead of his own, friends said Monday. Wayland died over the weekend after suffering a cardiac incident during a training exercise in Florida. He was 24.

"He was really someone you could look up to and always trust," longtime friend Tyler Timmons said. "I was proud to say that he was a part of our military and serving our country. If we had an army full of Patricks we would never be in trouble."

Wayland was participating in remedial swim training at a pool in Pensacola, Fl. on Aug. 1 when he suffered "some sort of cardiac event" and stopped breathing, said Marine Corps spokesman 1st Lt. Brian Villiard. Wayland was pulled from the pool immediately and revived through CPR before being transported to a naval hospital. Once there, he was airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola. A lack of oxygen during the incident meant damage to his brain was severe. At 11:25 a.m. on Friday, doctors pronounced Wayland brain dead, Villiard said.

Wayland wished for his organs to be donated and was kept on life support until that could be accomplished. He was taken off of support and pronounced dead around 7:35 p.m. on Saturday, Villiard said.

"As a Marine, Patrick swore to serve and give his life to duty, and by donating his organs, he is able to fulfill his obligation to others," his family wrote on its "Caring Bridge" blog Friday. "He is surrounded by people who he has loved and who love him dearly." And while his family wrote the outcome isn't the one they and dozens of Midlanders had been praying for all week, they said they hoped people could see the good God was doing, even in Patrick's death. "I know we have a long and hard road in front of us, but carry Patrick in your heart, and take comfort in knowing that he is leading God's Army in heaven now," the blog reads.

Friends said knowing they'll get to see Wayland again some day is what's getting them through. "He passed as a Christian man that loved the Lord with all his heart and he served the Lord with all his heart," Timmons said.

Former football teammate and friend Clay Yenzer said Wayland was in his wedding last month and he's grateful their tight-knit group of friends got to be together so recently. "All of our friends looked up to him. He was just a man of a lot of courage and great character," Yenzer said. "He's going to be missed badly by all of us."

Wayland was a 2005 Midland High graduate. He attended Texas Tech University for one year before transferring to the Naval Academy, where he graduated in 2010, a spokesperson said.

Villiard said as a second lieutenant, Wayland was early on in his flight training. The water training he was completing was meant to prepare him should he ever be in a plane that went down in water. It was routine and assigned to those who needed the swimming course, Villiard said.

Wayland is survived by his parents, David and Carole Wayland, as well as his younger sisters, Meagan and Lisa. The family posted on its Caring Bridge site that it was overwhelmed by prayers and support from Midland. Coworkers and friends said they wanted to help the family in whatever way they could.

"It's a terrible tragedy," said Nancy Betts, development director at Safe Place of the Permian Basin, where Carole serves as executive director. "We've been praying for them daily. Like everyone else, we are just pretty much overwhelmed with grief."