I can’t cope – wife of late footballer Tremaine Stewart

With tears streaming down her, Peta-Gaye Dickenson, the wife of former national football player Tremaine Stewart, could hardly contain her emotions when STAR Sports visited her yesterday following her husband's sudden passing on Sunday.

Stewart, who was signed with Dunbeholden FC at the time of his death, was reportedly playing a corner league game in his community of Gordon Pen when he collapsed and died shortly after entering the field.

Dickenson, who has been married to Stewart for over two years, described her final moments with the talented midfielder.

"When I woke up on Sunday I said to him, where are you going, and he said he soon come, and then he went outside and was looking for his car key and he couldn't find it, and so he sat down and was watching cricket for a while," Dickenson recalled.

"So I went into the kitchen because he said he wanted curry goat and rice and peas for his Sunday dinner, and he said, 'why I can't find my car keys', and so I said to him it must be a sign why you can't find the key.

"So when he found it, he just left out, and after that I heard that he fell down on the field and then they rushed him to the hospital," Dickenson stated. "This has hurt me very much because I can't cope."

She continued, while being consoled by members of her family: "It has hurt me a lot and I don't know how I am going to manage right now."

Stewart was an outstanding football player at Eltham High School as he led them to ISSA/Walker Cup title in 2006.

He also led the St Catherine-based institution to the semi-finals of the Manning Cup competition in that said year, where they where beaten by Jamaica College.

Principal of Eltham High School, Barrington Mighton, said his institution is shocked and deeply saddened by Stewart's sudden passing.

"When I heard the news I was in total shock," said Mighton. "One of my teachers told me that she saw him on Friday, and to have heard that he died so shortly after, it was a shocker for all of us here," he said.

Mighton added that the institution will be honouring Stewart in the near future.

"He put us on the map as it relates to sports because he helped our school to win the Walker Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Manning Cup. We will be doing something in his honour, having gone so far in representing Jamaica," Mighton said.

Stewart is survived by his wife and two children.