Fan who made lasting impact on Huskies dies at 15
Aubrien Jimenez’s visit with the UConn men’s basketball team in March was fairly brief, but deeply impactful.
Jimenez, diagnosed in June, 2021 with Stage 4 esthesioneuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer that affects the olfactory system, made a special visit with her family from their Bradenton, Florida home to attend UConn’s Big East tournament game against Villanova, followed by the team’s Selection Show celebration inside the
Werth Family Champions Center on March 13.
The visit meant everything to the Aubrien, a UConn fan through her dad, Mario, a Bridgeport native who graduated from Bunnell High in 2003.
“We weren’t sure what to expect, because it was so impromptu and spontaneous,” Mario recalled. “It was one of the greatest moments of her life. It made such an impact on our family.”
Aubrien died on June 22 at 3:11 a.m. at age 15, with her mother, Kimber, and Mario by her side. Her funeral was on Saturday.
Aubrien’s brother Mariano, 6, had received a UConn hat from coach Dan Hurley and his wife Andrea during the Jimenez’s visit. On Saturday, Mario placed the hat inside his sister’s casket, one of the few items that will be with her forever.
“That really just speaks to what that trip meant to our whole family,” Mario said.
But Aubrien’s visit wasn’t only impactful to her and her family. The UConn basketball family was greatly impacted, as well. On Thursday, just hours before his life would forever be changed as the Atlanta Hawks’ secondround pick in the NBA Draft, Tyrese Martin replied to a Twitter post from the Inspiration Academy Softball that announced Aubrien’s passing.
“Aubrien you were a fighter!,” Martin wrote. “It’s a blessing to say I was able to spend time and have a conversation with you this year. You will be missed in the UConn family! My prayers go out to your family. Get some
rest.”
“That’s incredible, just unbelievable,” Mario marveled. “That’s the biggest day of his life, and he’s talking about Aubrien. That just blows my mind.”
The Jimenez family has kept in touch with Dan and Andrea Hurley ever since the visit, exchanging texts, sharing updates. Recently, Andrea shared a special message: the team will be hanging a portrait of Aubrien inside their locker room in the Werth Center.
“To hear that from the Hurley family is incredible,” Mario said. “To hear how much Aubrien impacted them is something that we’ll carry with us forever. We couldn’t be more grateful of the time we got to spend with the Hurleys.”
Aubrien Jimenez’s memory will forever be with the UConn men’s basketball team. It will be with Team USA softball, as well.
Aubrien was a very good softball player, a leftyhitting shortstop who would have played varsity as a freshman this past spring.
“Down here in Florida,” Mario noted, “that means something.”
While Aubrien was in the oncology unit at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, one of her nurses was Meghan King, a star of the 2018 national-champion Florida State softball team.
King relayed Aubrien’s story across the softball world. Taylor Pleasants, an LSU shortstop now playing on Team USA, hit a home run on Wednesday, the same day Aubrien died. She will be shipping that softball to the Jimenez family.
This is how Mario and his family are moving forward following Aubrien’s death. Gratitude and thankfulness for Aubrien’s too-brief life take precedence over sadness and despair. The Jimenez family wants people not only to see Aubrien’s story, but to see how they are dealing with it.
“We’re living one day at a time,” Mario said. “We’re very big on our faith, Christ is very important to us. We’re using this, humbly, as an opportunity to point people to our faith and show people, ‘Hey, this is different. This is a different response than we’re
typically used to seeing.’ We’re hoping this shines through through our story. It’s a unique opportunity, that’s for sure.”
And so, while Mario and Kimber wanted Aubrien to stay at the hospital over her final days, they agreed to their daughter’s request that she return home for hospice care. It was the right move. Aubrien loved hearing people in the next room laughing or cheering on the UConn baseball team. It made her feel at home.
Each night in recent weeks, the rest of the family would gather around Aubrien’s bed, read a Bible verse, play a worship song. Sometimes, Aubrien appeared to be sleeping, unconscious, but suddenly lift her hands as if she were worshiping. She heard it all.
Last week, her cancer having metastasized to her spine and vital organs,
Aubrien said to her father: “Daddy, I’m ready to go. I don’t want to be in pain anymore.”
Mario sang her a song — “Cinderella,” by Steven Curtis Chapman, a song about a dad sharing every moment of his life with his daughter, knowing that one day she’ll be gone, like Cinderella. He hugged Aubrien, cried on her shoulder. A few hours later, she passed away.
“It was good for her to be pain-free now,” Mario said.
Mario Jimenez is hoping to visit UConn again this season, take in a game and speak to the team about his daughter. Most will already know of her story. All will know her by the portrait, hanging inside their locker room, forever honoring the memory of Aubrien Jimenez.