SOUTHLAKE, Texas — A Carroll ISD seventh grader passed away after collapsing at school and suffering what his family said was a brain aneurysm.
Julio Oliveira collapsed Thursday, Aug. 24 at Carroll Middle School and was rushed to Cook Children’s Medical Center.
Oliveira, 13, moved to the area from Brazil five years ago and had a passion for soccer.
“Things happened so suddenly on Thursday. Just out of the blue,” Oliveira’s coach Declan O’Shea said. “We got a text from his mom through a carpooling thread saying the doctors have done all they can do.”
O’Shea said the team had practiced a day earlier and everything was normal. O’Shea has known Oliveira and his family since they first moved to the United States.
At the time, he didn’t know English, but O’Shea said he had a way of speaking through the game of soccer.
“He was very compassionate, intelligent, ultra-competitive,” O’Shea said. “It’s one of those things where he wanted to win, and he wanted to give everything he got all the time.”
Since Thursday, hundreds of calls and texts, some from people he’s never met have flooded his phone sharing condolences.
In a note sent to Carroll ISD parents Saturday, the district said it will be providing grief counseling and support services for students and staff.
“We have lost a valuable member of our Dragon community, and we will undoubtedly feel his absence each day,” the district wrote. “Please also keep our CMS coaching staff, teachers, administrators and the EMTs, who all worked together to provide care for Julio during his time of need, in your thoughts and prayers.”
Julio has played on the same club team for four years now and O’Shea said the teammates feel the loss too.
“They’re just shocked. They’re sad. They’re heartbroken for the family,” he said. “It was like a family. That team alone was a huge family.”
Oliveria’s father asked O’Shea to pass on a message about the teen who had a contagious smile.
“His words to me were, ‘Celebrate Julio’s life. He was very blessed to have 13 years with him’,” O’Shea said. “‘I love him, and he showed me every day that he loved me.’ It’s such positivity. I don’t know how he’s doing it.”
The team plans to wear burgundy shirts and sweatbands in honor of brain aneurysm awareness and to show support for Oliveira’s family. A GoFundMe set up to support the family has raised roughly $50,000.
A public memorial service is schedules at White’s Chapel Methodist Church in Southlake Tuesday, Aug. 29 at 6:30 p.m.