A “bighearted” Bay Area mom has gone brain dead after suffering an aneurysm while watching her son suffer a horrific injury during a high school football game.
Mother of four Lucinda Daniels, 44, of San Francisco, collapsed minutes after her son was wiped out on the field Friday during his varsity game in Mountain View, Santa Clara County.
Her son, senior running back Dillon Daniels, suffered a broken leg and dislocated foot midway through the game while playing for Mountain View High School.
Their home game against The King’s Academy in Sunnyvale started as normal, with support from Dillon’s parents from the sidelines.
Lucinda was known as one of the loudest cheerleaders from the parental state. “She was at every game with her pom-poms,” Mountain View coach Tim Lugo told the local Mercury News Monday night.
“Big hearted” Bay Area mom of four Lucinda Daniels (pictured left), 44, collapsed while watching her son Dillon play Friday for the Mountain View High School Boys Varsity team
“You don’t hear many parents from the stands, but you always heard her.”
But he said the game took a “surreal” turn when Dillon was badly injured just before half-time.
The young player was treated on the pitch by paramedics, while his parents responded by running onto the pitch.
But the situation took a turn for the worse when the boy’s father, Dale, knelt next to his son and suddenly passed out, prompting officials to call an ambulance.
Joe Maemone, TKA’s executive director of athletics, told Mercury News that Lucinda was “fine” at the moment.
“She was on the phone,” he said. “It seemed like she was talking to relatives and telling them what was going on. Then dad gets up. He was fine, coherent.’
Dillon is pictured during a previous game. His mother suffered an injury that resulted in brain death after seeing him break his leg during a game
But as paramedics continued to treat Dillon, his mother also collapsed.
She lay on the ground for about three minutes until paramedics placed her on a stretcher and rushed her to hospital, the paper said.
“We stand around and think, ‘Lord, what’s happening here?’ It was so surreal,” Maemone said.
“You’d almost think this was just a bad dream you’re about to wake up from.”
It later transpired that Lucinda had suffered an aneurysm, which may have burst and caused a stroke.
The family is pictured on a snowy vacation leading up to this week’s tragedy
Just over 24 hours later, disaster struck again when she suffered a second aneurysm that left her with no brain activity, according to local reports.
She is described as a selfless mother of four who was an organ donor.
“Anyone who knows Lucinda knows she has one of the biggest hearts you’ve ever seen and in keeping with that spirit, she’s an organ donor,” her friends said on the fundraising page.
“While we lose Lucinda, we hope you find some comfort in knowing that her passing will bring the gift of life to countless others and ensure that her love will continue to spread around the world.
“The Daniels family has a deep connection to the Mountain View community, with all four children visiting Landels, Graham and MVHS.
“The money raised will be used to help the family cover all medical, funeral and living expenses as they work to rebuild their lives.
“Please keep the family in your thoughts and prayers.”
According to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation (BAF), an estimated one in 50 people in the US has an unruptured brain aneurysm, but most are not serious.
However, if they rupture, the survival rate is only 50%, and of those who survive, about 66% suffer from a permanent neurological deficit.
There are nearly 500,000 deaths from brain aneurysms worldwide each year, and half of the victims are under the age of 50.