On Thursday night, Pittsburgh Steelers first-round pick and defensive lineman Derrick Harmon shared the heartbreaking story of his mom, Tiffany Saine, who battled health issues for years and was on life support the night he was drafted.
Harmon revealed that after he was drafted, he was going to visit his mom in the hospital to tell her the good news.
"She's at the hospital right now on life support, so that was a little bittersweet because she worked as hard just as me to get to this moment," Harmon said. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm very excited."
"After I get off the phone with you guys, I'm going to head straight to the hospital and tell her that her son got drafted."
Unfortunately, after he did that, Harmon's mom passed away, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gerry Dulac.
"Derrick Harmon’s mom, who was on life support, passed away shortly after he went to the hospital and got to tell her he had been drafted by the Steelers," Dulac reported.
Harmon touched on what his mom meant to him during his post-draft presser on Thursday night. He said his mom always inspired him to keep going no matter what after seeing what she was able to overcome on a daily basis.
"Man, how resilient she was, man. Just growing up from my standpoint, my situation, I grew up with her having probably seven, eight brain surgeries," he explained. "And after all those brain surgeries, man, she did not give up. She still needed practice, still went to work. And I always, always in the back of my head from the beginning of my college career was, why can't I keep going? If I'm tired, injured, whatever it is, why can't I keep going? If she can get up and she can keep going after brain surgeries.
"So, just her resilience and her hard work, really. She was my inspiration."
This is just devastating news and our thoughts and prayers go out to Harmon and his family at this time. Her memory will no doubt live on through her son.