Cymbol family speaks out at Pressdee status conference
The night before Nicholas Cymbol, 43, was administered a lethal dose of insulin and died at a care home in Butler Township, he called his older sister.
Melinda Brown, of Armstrong County, remembers speaking with Cymbol on Sunday night, April 30, 2023, telling Cymbol she was going to visit him the next day at Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
Before dawn the next morning, Brown said she received news her brother had died. Cymbol, a diabetic, was only supposed to be at the care center for a few weeks, his sister said during a recess in a Thursday, May 2, status conference where Heather Pressdee, a former nurse, plead guilty to killing Cymbol and other nursing home patients at a total of five facilities across Butler, Armstrong, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.
Pressdee, 41, of Natrona Heights, pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of first-degree murder and 19 counts of attempted murder. She was linked to the death of 17 patients and administered lethal insulin doses to 22 total patients between October 2020 and May 2023.
In her victim impact statement, Brown, who is older by three years, referred to Cymbol as her baby brother.
Before his stay at Sunnyview, Cymbol’s caregivers at his home in Armstrong County had come down with COVID-19 at the same time, his sister said. Brown, who works full-time, said she was looking for a replacement caregiver.
The search process was extensive.
Brown shared in a victim impact statement that she struggled to find a home health care agency able to staff Cymbol’s schedule in the rural area where he lived. While his older sister searched for a caregiver, the plan was for Cymbol to remain, temporarily, in the care of staff at Sunnyview.
While in the care home, Cymbol’s chocolate Labrador, Hank, died.
In planning for her brother’s return home, Brown shared she was going to surprise him with a Great Dane, a dog she knew he had always wanted. Brown was in the process of adopting Winnie, a Great Dane, as a surprise, before her brother’s death.
“He was never supposed to be long-term at Sunnyview,” Brown shared in her statement. “It was always well-known by all that he would be returning to his house, where he so badly wanted to be.”
“I wish so badly that I had been there to save him and comfort him from all of this,” she stated. “I am his big sis, and I feel like I have failed him by not being there daily to see what was going on.”
Pressdee’s guilty plea and sentencing took place exactly a year and one day after Cymbol’s death on May 1, 2023. That same day, Pressdee was escorted off the care home premises.
Cymbol was her last victim.
A ’97 graduate of Shannock Valley High School in Rural Valley, Cymbol lived in Maryland and Port Charlotte, Fla., with his father, before becoming disabled.
In Florida, he worked as a cook at Chili’s, his sister said. He moved back to Pennsylvania in February 2015 to be closer to his niece, Hailey.
Cymbol was looking forward to witnessing the milestones in Hailey’s, life, Brown said. She said he looked forward to watching her daughter graduate from high school and attend prom.
In 2,856 words, Brown’s statement shares glimpses of Cymbol’s life. It recalls how Cymbol would take road trips with his father, and how he would help his sister prepare pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. Brown also commented on her brother’s humorous, resilient personality. She reflected on the grief felt by the family at losing Cymbol and the toll it has taken on her mental, emotional and physical health.
In the statement read during the hearing, Brown said Cymbol had “battled juvenile diabetes since he was 10 years old.”
In September 2015, Cymbol experienced kidney failure and needed to start dialysis, she stated. In May 2016, seven years before his death, he was found unresponsive and airlifted to Allegheny General Hospital, where doctors told the family he had suffered anoxic brain damage. For a time, doctors and neurologists told the family Cymbol would be in a persistent vegetative state.
“Nick fought hard and succeeded in proving doctors and neurologists wrong,” she stated. “He lived seven more years, and who knows how much longer had (Pressdee) not taken it upon herself to decide that he no longer deserved to live his life that he fought so hard and strong for.”
“He was a fighter, with a great will to live, as he loved life,” Brown shared.
John Pithers, the son of a resident at Sunnyview, also shared a statement about Cymbol.
“I’m at Sunnyview daily, usually twice a day,” Pithers stated. “I see many things happening since I'm there so often. One of those things that always made an impression on me was how universally loved Nick Cymbol was. Nick and my mom walked me to the door, nearly every night. During that nightly walk, it was amazing how many people would say ‘hi’ to Nick or stop us to have a chat with Nick.”
“We talk about Nick nightly,” he stated. “Not a night goes by that a resident doesn't bring up Nick's name and how we all miss Nick being there playing cards with us, and we reminisce about Nick and his famous sayings around the card table. Nick is definitely missed and still dearly loved by all his friends (whose) lives he touched.”
Nights are lonely for Brown’s family, too, as they were accustomed to Cymbol’s calls.
“Nights are so quiet staring at our phones, waiting for the phone to ring and hear his voice,” she said.
Months before her brother’s death, Brown said she received phone calls from Pressdee, alleging “inappropriate behavior” displayed by Cymbol. Pressdee told her Cymbol had been calling her names. At the care home, Brown told her brother to apologize to Pressdee. She now says she wishes she could tell him to take the apology back.
“Heather, now I know Nick was right about you, when I had my heart-to-heart with him about why he called you bad names and strongly disliked you,” she shared in a statement. “Not realizing at the time, how evil you actually are, I made the big mistake in talking him into apologizing to you. I now know I should've never told him to apologize, as the names he chose for you were obviously well-deserved.”
“Your actions, and yours alone, have placed you in the same place as some of the most evil people in the history of society,” she shared.
“Everything Nick loved was intentionally stolen from him and all of us,” she stated. “We can no longer call him for advice, visit him, hug him, dance with him, laugh with him or even hear his voice. As a result, we have all been left with grief, loss, heartache, sadness and pain. Our parents have lost their son. My daughter has lost her uncle. And I no longer have my little brother and my best friend.”
