Update: California mom dies after collapsing on football field tending to injured son
What the Mountain View High School community and football program had braced for has come to pass.
Lucinda Daniels, by every account a fun, vivacious and caring mother of four, died on Wednesday due to complications from two strokes, the first while tending to her injured son Dillon on the football field near halftime of a game on Friday.
The second on Saturday left her without brain function and Wednesday she was pronounced dead, according to the San Jose Mercury News. She was 44.
Lucinda's mother Olga Gonzalez told KTVU news "She was a really, really good mom. She was a good football mom, too. Her happiest place was there."
As told by reporters Darren Sabedra and Joseph Dycus, Lucindo Daniels was on the King's Academy High School football field Friday night comforting her son Dillon, who suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle, when she collapsed and rushed to the hospital.
On Saturday, she suffered a second stroke and with no brain activity, was put on life support. A GoFundMe page was set up in the Daniels' family name.
With an original goal of $50,000, donations have shot past $127,000, with a new goal of $150,000.
"Lucinda’s enthusiasm and support for the Spartan Football family made coaching fun," wrote assistant coach Kevin Smith and his wife Shelley. "She was her boys biggest cheerleader. She was a wonderful person and her positive spirit will truly be missed."
Lucinda Daniels with one of her four children. Photo: Courtesy of Daniels' family
Mountain View coach Tim Lugo told Dycus: "She was at every game with her pom-poms. You don't hear many parents from the stands, but you could always hear her."
The sequence of events has been deemed "surreal," by all involved.
Both parents were on the field late in the first half waiting for an ambulance, when Dillon's father Dale fainted, evidently overcome by the severity of his son's injury. That prompted a second ambulance. When dad was cleared medically, Lucinda collapsed.
"You almost think this was just a bad dream that you're going to wake up from," The King's Academy executive athletic directer Joe Maemone told Sabedra on Monday. "You could tell they were a really close family. ... We are in a very deep state of sadness."
Mountain View won the game Friday 48-34, and is scheduled to host Live Oak-Morgan Hill on Friday. School officials checked with the Daniels family, who said Lucinda would have wanted the game and season to go on.
Dillon Daniels, a senior, was scheduled to have surgery on his leg and ankle on Thursday. His young brother Brandon is a freshman on the junior varsity team.
Wrote fundraiser organizer Helen Cittadino: "Anyone who knows Lucinda, knows that she has one of the biggest hearts you've ever seen and in keeping with that spirit, she is an organ donor. While we are losing Lucinda, we hope you find solace in knowing that her passing will give the gift of life to numerous others and allow her love to continue to spread through the world."
Wrote Lee Ann Steffen: "We will miss Lucinda's smile, sparkle and love for family and football. She will always hold a special place in our hearts."
