A Winnipeg high school football player who suffered a serious neck injury during a game two weeks ago has died.
“Our hearts are heavy today, but there is comfort in knowing that Dee is no longer suffering,” Stephanie Ciaralli posted on Facebook early Thursday.
“After heartfelt visits and final goodbyes from family and friends, he took his last peaceful breath early this morning.”
Ciaralli was raising Darius Hartshorne, better known to everyone as Dee.
“Dee, you are the son I chose to love every single day, without hesitation. I’m so deeply sorry for all that you had to go through these last 12 days, but I am endlessly proud of the young man you became and the path you had just begun to walk,” the Facebook post said.
“Though your time here was far too short, the love you gave will live on in all of us.”
Hartshorne, a Grade 12 student who played for the Sisler Spartans, was injured when he was tackled while returning the opening kickoff of an Oct. 17 game against the Tec Voc Hornets.
“It’s tragic, and we’re sending all sorts of supports to those schools that will be deeply impacted … to be there, to help people process and for whatever else folks might need,” Matt Henderson, superintendent of the Winnipeg School Division, said Thursday morning.
“We just want to support kids, we want to support our staff and the family.”
Hartshorne was a well-liked and valued member of the Spartans, head coach Sean Esselmont told CBC News last week.
He called Hartshorne “one of the most genuine and wonderful young men I’ve had the pleasure of coaching in all of my time here.”
The team has been wearing decals on their helmets, featuring Hartshorne’s jersey number 57, and made sure his jersey was prominently displayed at games.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Ciaralli said Hartshorne had been put into an induced coma last week due to a high fever that caused damage to his kidneys and liver and swelling in his brain.
As of the weekend, he was no longer in the induced coma or under sedation, but he wasn’t waking up on his own, Ciaralli said.
“All the things we were seeing post op that were giving us so much hope are no longer the same,” she wrote at the time.
Politicians offer condolences
Manitoba Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan opened question period Thursday by offering condolences to Darius’s loved ones.
“I have friends who have passed away doing what they love,” the former offensive lineman for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers said at the Manitoba Legislature.
“Sad to see a life taken so soon,” he said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with you, your family, your loved ones, classmates and everyone at Sisler.”
Premier Wab Kinew said many Manitobans had reached out to express their sadness over the situation.
“All of us as Manitobans spend so much of our lives around the field, the rink, the diamond, and it’s where so many of the good times happen,” he said. “When you have something like this, it really pulls at the heartstrings.”
Coun. Vivian Santos, who represents Point Douglas, where Sisler is located, also spoke about the teen during a city council meeting Thursday.
“Dee was known for his kindness, strength and the way he showed up for others,” she said, “always loving, always supportive and always treating everyone like his family. His mother, Stephanie, shared that his heart and compassion touched everyone who knew him.”
Hartshorne turned 17 five days ago, while in hospital.
“I’d give anything just to be able to bring you home,” Ciaralli wrote two days after his birthday.
WATCH | Teen football player dies after on-field injury:
Darius Hartshorne, 17, has died nearly two weeks after he was injured during a high school football game. The Grade 12 student at Sisler High School in Winnipeg had been in critical care since he suffered a serious neck injury on Oct. 17.
