New Steelers defensive tackle Derrick Harmon had something far more important than football on his mind when Pittsburgh drafted him in the first round on Thursday night.

Harmon, at home in Michigan, knew exactly what he would do as soon as he got off the phone with reporters: visit his mother in the hospital.

“She’s on life support, so after I get off the phone with you guys, I’m gonna head straight to the hospital and tell her, her son got drafted,” Harmon said via Sports Illustrated.

Shortly after Harmon delivered the news, his mother, Tiffany Saine, passed away, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Saine’s impact in Harmon’s life was something he constantly talked about during his football career.

“I lived with moms, and me and moms was hurting,” Harmon told The Oregonian in October. “She really broke her back trying to get me to every camp, every visit I could get to. Any time somebody invited me to a camp, she tried her best to get me out there. I never took that for granted. I still thank her to this day for what she did.”

Saine suffered a stroke during Harmon’s time at Michigan State that paralyzed her left side. Prior to that, she had undergone several brain surgeries, still working full-time as a single mother.

After he was drafted, Harmon credited Saine’s resilience as a major inspiration: “Always in the back of my head from the beginning of my college career was, ‘Why can’t I keep going if I’m tired or I’m injured, whatever it is, why can’t I keep going if she can get up and keep going after brain surgery.’ So just her resilience and her hard work, really.”

After he transferred to Oregon, Harmon used his NIL money to buy his mom a wheelchair-accessible van.

Harmon wanted to make the NFL to provide for his mom. Per NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, he cancelled several of his pre-draft visits to stay with her.

Although he was happy to get drafted, Harmon said the moment was bittersweet as his mom wasn’t by his side: “She worked as hard just as me to get to this moment.”

However, he was still able to share the news with her that night.