PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – You may have seen first-round pick Derrick Harmon crying when finding out he was drafted by the Steelers. As much as it was for the excitement of the moment, it was also about his mom not being there.
Harmon called the moment ‘bittersweet’ because his mother was at the hospital Thursday night, on life support. He said she worked just as hard as him and it was tough not having her at this once-in-a-lifetime moment.
After he was done with a post-draft conference call, he was heading to the hospital to visit his mother.
“To tell her, her son got drafted,” Harmon told Pittsburgh reporters, choking back tears.
His mom, Tiffany Saine, had a stroke a couple of years ago, but has continued to fight through hospital visit after hospital visit.
"I grew up w her having 7-8 brain surgeries,” Harmon explained. “She did not give up. From the back of my head in my college career, (I said) why can't I keep going if I'm tired, injured, if she can keep going after brain surgery’?”
Harmon said he had a big village to help him get through all of this.
Inspired by his mother, Harmon said being drafted by the Steelers was a truly a blessing.