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Submitted: 1/16/12 • Approved: 1/16/12 • Last Updated: 7/29/12 • R637077-G0-S3
14 Sept 1987 - 21 Jul 2007
*Obituary Star Telegram Fort Worth, Texas
Seth J. Darnell, 19, passed away Saturday, July 21, 2007, at a Fort Worth hospital after a lengthy illness.
Funeral: 3 p.m. Wednesday at Ash Creek Baptist Church, 300 S. Stewart St., Azle. Committal service: 10 a.m. Friday in Carlock Cemetery in Crossett, Ark.
Memorials: Seth Darnell Benefit Fund (for the family to establish a scholarship in Seth's memory), First Bank of Azle, Box 1319, Azle, Texas 76098.
Seth was born in Bossier City, La., and had lived in the Azle area for six years. He graduated in 2006 from Azle High, where he excelled in athletics and academics and was voted Mr. A.H.S. for 2006. Seth had set a goal and was preparing for the 2008 Paralympics and other competitions for disabled athletes. He was enrolled as a freshman at Texas Christian University Class of 2010 but a recurrence of his illness prevented him from attending. Seth was a member of Eagle Mountain Baptist Church.
The family gives a heartfelt thank-you to Dr. Jeffrey C. Murray, the staff at Cook Children's Medical Center and his caregivers for the love and uncommon care for Seth during the past four years.
He was predeceased by his paternal grandparents, Edward and Mildred Darnell, and an uncle, Philip Darnell.
Survivors: Parents, John and Denise Darnell; brother, Jared Darnell; maternal grandparents, Robbie and Glenn Featherston and Jerry and Linda Pahal; aunts and uncles, Carol and Mike Roberts, David and Jan Darnell and Robert Darnell; and cousins, Ben Darnell and Tiffany, Laken, Clark and Rylan Roberts.
The following story was posted on Wed.. July 25, 2007 in
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
SETH DARNELL 1987-2007
Athlete inspired even after an amputation
By MARK AGEE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Seth Darnell stepped onto a basketball court with a prosthetic leg for the first time two years ago.
The Azle High School crowd was on its feet during the junior varsity game as he scored five points, grabbed two rebounds and blocked a shot. But the moment they really went crazy was when he took a charge.
Friend and classmate Matt Summers doesn't remember which team won, but he said, "It was the greatest game I ever saw."
Mr. Darnell's father agreed.
"I had a hard time watching through the tears," said John Darnell, who was also the team's coach.
Seth Darnell died Saturday at a Fort Worth hospital after the bone cancer that took his left leg returned. He was 19.
That moment on the basketball court during Mr. Darnell's junior year was emblematic of the way he attacked life, friends and relatives said.
Mr. Darnell, a basketball player and track athlete, was diagnosed with cancer in his sophomore year in high school.
He was sixth in his class academically before chemotherapy forced him to stay home and he fell in the rankings. He vowed to return to the top 10, his father said. He graduated ninth in his class at Azle in 2006.
He earned scholarships to Texas Christian University, though he was unable to attend because the cancer returned last summer. He wanted to study biomechanics and learn to research and design prosthetics, his family said.
"Everything he did, he excelled at it. He always did it with such passion," said his mother, Denise Darnell. "He made me a better person. He never wanted anyone to feel sorry for him."
Mr. Darnell made the decision himself to have his leg amputated, John Darnell said.
He remained an athlete, learning to rock climb. He went skydiving twice.
Mr. Darnell trained for the Paralympics and had hoped to compete in the Beijing 2008 games in track and field or swimming, which he had never competed in before the amputation.
He needed to trim about 20 seconds off of his 100-meter time. "There was no doubt in my mind he could do it," John Darnell said.
"This was a kid who stopped drinking carbonated drinks before the seventh grade to improve his conditioning," John Darnell said. "He was that dedicated to doing what it took to reach a goal. He was strong. ... You and I facing the situation probably would have died about six months into it. He made it a year."
Denise Darnell said her son had an "amazing story to tell."
"That's one of my regrets -- that he won't be able to tell it," she said.
Other survivors include his brother, Jared Darnell; grandparents, Robbie and Glenn Featherston and Jerry and Linda Pahal; aunts and uncles, Carol and Mike Roberts, David and Jan Darnell, and Robert Darnell.
Photo Provided by Henry Osborne henryo@centurytel.net
Contributed on 1/16/12
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Record #: 637077