(UPDATE)
The University of Iowa Marching Band has now confirmed that a student who collapsed in the intense heat Saturday while waiting to play the halftime show of the football game has died.
The family of Derek Phillips says he suffered cardiac arrest and was admitted to intensive care. They decided to remove Phillips from life support after learning the damage his brain was too severe for him to survive.
Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz mentioned Phillips during his meeting with the media this afternoon. “Just on behalf of everybody associated with our program, just want to offer our thoughts, our condolences to his family, his friends, and all the people that he impacted, certainly in his life. It’s just a really, really very, very sad thing,” Ferentz said.
The heat index was above 100 degrees at the game against Northern Illinois and the band’s halftime performance was canceled. The University of Iowa says Phillips’ death is “heartbreaking.” The university is providing counselors for students in the marching band and school of music.
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A University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band member who collapsed in the heat Saturday has been taken off life support.
The Daily Iowan says third-year student Derek Phillips collapsed right before the band was to play the halftime show of the season opening football game and suffered sudden cardiac arrest. The DI reports the Phillips’s family confirmed the information in a post made on his Instagram account.
That post says, Phillips was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at UI Health Care and it was determined he had severe brain damage resulting from cardiac arrest, and his family says they then made the decision to remove Phillips from life support.