LAS CRUCES, NM (KTSM) — Organ Mountain High School football player Abraham Romero died on Saturday night, the school’s booster club announced on Sunday morning. He was 17 years old.
In a post online, the booster club said that Romero passed away with his mother by his side. Romero spent three weeks in an El Paso hospital in a medically-induced coma.
“Seventeen years is not nearly long enough, but it’s all he was given. It is very easy to focus on what we lost, but the true measure of a life is in the impact it makes on our world, not on the time he was with us,” the post read in part.
A team captain, the linebacker and running back was airlifted to El Paso after collapsing during the Knights’ game at Deming Aug. 26. He spent three weeks in the ICU in a medically-induced coma with a brain bruise and doctors made multiple attempts to reduce brain swelling, according to the Las Cruces Sun News. It remains unclear what may have caused Romero to collapse.
Romero’s condition worsened last weekend and his friends and teammates were allowed to visit him in the hospital Sept. 10. Multiple fundraisers for Romero and his family have raised over $15,000, including a car wash held by all four Las Cruces high schools. Romero was crowned Organ Mountain homecoming king on Thursday night.
“The outpouring of love, support, and prayers from the Las Cruces community, surrounding areas, and even from states away has been nothing short of magical,” the post stated. “The knowledge that Abe has been the center of it all has carried his immediate family and the OMHS football team through these last weeks.”
There is a GoFundMe set up to help the Romero family, which can be found here. The Organ Mountain Booster Club has also asked donors to CashApp his mother at $elizabtro, so that the funds can go directly to the family. 8509 are the last four digits of the phone number.
“On behalf of Abe’s immediate family and the OMHS football family, thank you for the care and support that you have shown. We will share information about memorial services once it has been finalized,” the booster club’s post read.
Organ Mountain will play Centennial on Friday at the Field of Dreams. Kickoff is slated for 7 pm
(Information from KTSM.com)
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