A selfless New Jersey principal d*ied trying to help save the l*ife of a 14-year-old boy he never met, his family said on Tuesday.
Derrick Nelson, the 44-year-old principal of Westfield High School fell into a c*oma in February after a procedure to donate b*one marrow to a s*ick teenager in France.
“After the procedure he did, he c*ouldn’t speak and was lying in the bed,” his father, 81-year-old Willie Nelson told the NJ Advance Media Tuesday. “His eyes were open and he realized who we were. But he co*uldn’t move. He never spoke again.”
The family of the 20-year o*fficer with the US Army Reserve, including his parents, fiancee and the couple’s 6-year-old daughter, kept a vigil for him in his room at University H*ospital until his d*eath on Sunday.
“We really don’t know the full story of what happened,” Willie Nelson said. “We were expecting him to come out of the c*oma he was in. But he didn’t m*ake it.”
Because Nelson s*uffered from a*pnea, do*ctors were concerned about using a*nesthesia for the procedure. They ultimately decided to use a local a*nesthetic, Nelson said in an interview with the high school newspaper, Hi’s Eye, prior to the procedure.
“If it’s just a little bit of p*ain for a little bit of time that can give someone years of joy, it’s all worth it,” he said at the time.
On Monday, school officials and Mayor Shelley Brindle paid tribute to Nelson.
“This is a tremendous l*oss for our community, and I know that our children, and we as parents, will s*truggle with coming to terms with this over the coming days and weeks,” Brindle said on Facebook.
“He was a man of immense character and kindness, and his legacy will live on in the generations of students whose lives he touched.”
Nelson’s family said he had recently reenlisted in the Army. His previous military service included assignments in the Middle East.
The f*uneral will be held later this week at St. John’s Baptist Church in Scotch Plains.