BAGSHOT, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 25: The Jacksonville Jaguars logo visible during a training session at Pennyhill Park Hotel ahead of Sunday's NFL match at Wembley Stadium between Jacksonville Jaguars and San Francisco 49ers on October 25, 2013 in Bagshot, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Sorrowful news: the Jacksonville Jaguars received the death of their team member early today
According to the team, football fans in Florida lamented the passing of a longtime Jacksonville Jaguars drumline director.
In a Facebook post on February 21, the team announced the passing of Michael Patterson, who co-founded and co-directed the Jaguars’ D-Line. His wife Mylene Patterson posted on Facebook that he passed away following ventricular fibrillation-related cardiac arrest.
The Jaguars claim that Patterson spent 20 years as a member of their D-Line. As per his family’s GoFundMe, he was also a drummer at multiple churches in the Jacksonville region.
In the first of several Facebook posts providing updates on her husband’s condition, Michael Patterson’s wife stated that her husband went into cardiac arrest on February 14 and that she had to perform chest compressions on him for 11 minutes until emergency medical personnel arrived to use an automated external defibrillator.
Mylene Patterson stated that after being brought to the intensive care unit, the medical team examined him for heart blockages but found none.
Michael Patterson appeared “restful” at first, but in the days that followed, his responsiveness declined, according to a post made by his wife on February 15. She claimed that although she was “in shock” at the thought of becoming a widow at 44, she made an effort to hold onto hope for her husband’s survival.
She wrote, “I think when I talk in his ear, he might recognize my voice, but that might just be wishful thinking on my part.”
The doctors told his family the “hard truth” that he would “never be himself again” after he underwent a number of tests to assess his heart and brain functions, Mylene Patterson stated in a post on February 18.
“I’m really lost right now. In her post from February 17, she said, “It’s hard.” Though not truly, he is still present. I don’t want to lose him because he is a part of me, but I also don’t want him to suffer or linger.
According to his wife, Michael Patterson passed away on February 19 following a “scary episode” in which his heart rate spiked. She stated that even though they were “taking it so hard,” his two children had the chance to see their father prior to his passing.
Mylene Patterson said that she was by his side the entire time he was in the hospital. Before his passing, they had spent 28 years together, according to her Facebook post.
According to Mylene Patterson, the two have been together since they were 16 years old and in high school. This year marked their 22nd wedding anniversary, according to her.
She wrote, “I don’t know what my life is like without him.”
His wife claimed that one of his final wishes was to see his son graduate from college and to accompany his daughter down the aisle at her wedding.
“All I can hope is that in the brief time they had with him, they created enough amazing memories. It wasn’t enough, Mylene Patterson wrote, “I had 28 years.”
