‘Those were his last words to me’: Mum breaks down recalling son’s final moments after Muay Thai fight
“He said he felt dizzy and wanted to rest.”
They were simple words, but they would be the last that Susan Lee would ever hear from her 24-year-old son, Muay Thai fighter Damian Ong.
He had just stepped out of the ring after competing at the Fight for Hope tournament when he complained of feeling unwell.
Lee, 52, noticed that his left eye was swollen and told him that he was not okay.
After the results were announced, he lay down. Shortly after, he lost consciousness and never woke up.
“Those were his last words to me,” the finance executive told Stomp, breaking down in tears as she recalled their final conversation.
Still conscious and walking after fight before passing out
During a visit to the Ong family’s home, Damian’s older sister, Agnes Ong, recounted the events that unfolded after her brother’s bout at the AMC 13 Fight for Hope tournament at the National Stadium on Sept 12.
The 27-year-old recruitment consultant said the referee had stopped the match during the third round before time was up.
Despite the fight being stopped, Damian remained conscious and on his feet until the results were announced. He was also able to walk out of the ring to the resting area.
It was during this time that he told his mother he felt dizzy.
After lying down, Damian began pressing his head, Agnes recalled.
When medics arrived, they carried out routine checks and told the gym staff they would return in 10 minutes to check on him again.
But shortly after they left, Damian began rolling around on the ground in pain.
“After a minute, he went unconscious. When he passed out, he had foam in his mouth,” Agnes recounted.
One of the medics then instructed someone to call 995.
According to Agnes, no oxygen tank was brought over at that point. Instead, the medical team had a machine monitoring Damian’s readings.
He was subsequently loaded into a private ambulance at the venue, but Agnes said it could not leave for the hospital as they had to wait for the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) to arrive.
Damian was still breathing at the time, she added.
When the SCDF paramedics took over, Agnes said she was told that her brother’s heart rate was dropping, his blood pressure was very low, and his oxygen saturation level was 76 per cent.
A normal oxygen saturation level is generally between 95 and 100 per cent.
“He was not breathing on his own, he was fully relying on the equipment. That was the last image of him that I saw before he was admitted to the hospital,” said Agnes.
She also recalled seeing tears coming from her brother’s eyes.
For Lee, the thought that her son could no longer breathe independently was difficult to comprehend.
“He was breathing at that point. I was like what do you mean he’s not breathing?” she said tearfully.
Damian’s father, Jeffrey Ong, 56, said the family had been standing behind the crowd that gathered around his son.
He wondered whether the outcome might have been different if there had been no delay in getting Damian to hospital.
‘We did everything we thought of’: Family’s desperate hope during 2 weeks in ICU
Agnes accompanied Damian in the ambulance to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, while her parents drove there to meet them.
As she sat in the front of the ambulance, she tried to remain calm, knowing how worried her parents already were. But she feared the worst.
She had a “strong feeling” that her brother’s condition was far more serious than an ordinary injury.
The gravity of the situation became clear when doctors examined Damian and showed the family his computed tomography (CT) scans. The scans showed extensive bleeding in his brain, which had also shifted, she said.
Given Damian’s young age, doctors offered to perform surgery to remove part of his skull, clear the blood clots and make room for his brain to swell.
However, they warned the family that even if the surgery went well, Damian could have a severely diminished quality of life and remain in a vegetative state.
For his family, giving up was never an option.
They “never gave up”, Jeffrey, who is self-employed, told Stomp.
They decided to proceed with the five-hour surgery, clinging to whatever chance their son had of surviving.
After the operation, Damian was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), where doctors conducted reflex tests to assess his brain function.
Agnes recalled how heartbreaking it was to see her younger brother in that state.
For the next two weeks, the family stayed by his side, desperately hoping for any sign that he might wake up.
They spoke to him every day, held his hand and waited for even the slightest movement of his fingers, said Agnes.
They played songs he loved.
“We prepared some of his favourite food to put on his lips hoping he would wake up,” Jeffrey added. “We did everything we thought of.”
But the response they prayed for never came.
As the days passed, the family was told that Damian appeared to have suffered brain stem damage, which doctors described as equivalent to brain death.
Agnes said the doctors advised the family against prolonging the process, as they hoped patients could pass on with dignity rather than have their bodies deteriorate.
“It was a very tough decision because we asked them for more time,” Agnes said.
They were given two weeks, she added, before Damian was declared dead on Sept 27.
For his parents, accepting that their son was gone was almost impossible.
“We were counting on even 0.1 per cent chance that he might wake up,” Jeffrey said. “Even just blinking or finger movement, we would be happy. But there wasn’t a single movement.”
Lee added: “That day was painful.”
‘Can don’t go’: Parents had objected to Damian competing in Muay Thai fights
Looking back, Lee recalled how she and her husband had opposed Damian’s decision to compete in Muay Thai, fearing for his safety.
“We said you can train but cannot compete,” she said.
But Muay Thai was Damian’s passion, and he was determined to pursue it.
Even after he began competing, his mother never stopped worrying. “Every time he went for a match, I would say ‘can don’t go’,” Lee said.
However, Damian would reassure them that it was safe because fighters wore headgear.
Jeffrey said he even stopped paying his son’s gym fees in an attempt to discourage him from competing. But Damian continued training and eventually entered competitions.
“I cannot stop what he wants to do,” Lee said.
Damian first took up the sport in 2019 and trained at Inspire Fitness Asia, where Agnes said his coach treated him like a son.
He took a break from the sport in 2023 before returning to it.
According to his parents, Damian had only begun competing this year, with his first match in March.
The Fight for Hope tournament was just his third competition.
Jeffrey admitted that the family had regrets, but acknowledged that nothing could change what had happened.
“We were just hoping that the protection gear would help keep him safe,” he said.
A son who put family first, a brother who never complained
To Damian’s parents, he was a “responsible and sensible” son who quietly took care of the family in his own quiet ways.
Lee recalled how he would help out with household chores, from vacuuming and mopping to preparing meals. He also enjoyed cooking.
“Sometimes I will say order in, but he will buy the ingredients and cook it instead,” Lee said.
It was only after his death that Lee learnt just how much her son had been putting his family first.
One of Damian’s friends recently told her that he would sometimes ask them to wait an hour before meeting up so he could finish helping his mother with the housework.
Jeffrey added that even when Damian was napping, he would wake up to help with chores if asked, before going back to sleep.
For Agnes, Damian was far more than a younger brother.
Despite being three years younger, he often felt like the older sibling she could depend on.
“Whenever I’m troubled, need help or just need someone to talk to, he’s the first person I will go to,” she said. “He was my confidant and emotional support.”
On days when she worked overtime and did not feel like taking the MRT home, Damian would pick her up without complaint.
She also remembered him as someone who was “very determined to do well in life”.
He ran a curtains and blinds business and was also interested in investing.
“He always mentioned that he wanted to earn a lot of money and retire my parents,” Agnes said.
His generosity extended beyond his family.
During the two weeks Damian spent in ICU, many of his friends visited him, with some staying through the night despite having work or school the following day.
The family was touched by the turnout at his five-day funeral, where more than 100 people reportedly came each day to pay their respects — including the doctors and nurses who treated him.
Agnes recalled how a woman from the neighbourhood approached them during the funeral to share how Damian would greet her whenever he saw her downstairs.
He would also help carry her groceries home after trips to the market.
“We did not know about this aunty. That’s the kind of person he was,” Agnes shared.
‘He’s a hero’: Damian’s final gift saves 4 lives
Even after his death, Damian’s generosity continued to make a difference.
According to his family, his organs helped save four lives. But the decision to proceed with organ donation was not an easy one for his parents.
When doctors raised the possibility of organ donation, Jeffrey and Lee initially strongly objected.
“We already lost our son. We just wanted his body to be complete,” Lee said in tears.
But Jeffrey recalled something his son had said many years earlier.
When Damian was younger, he had told his grandfather, who underwent weekly kidney dialysis, that he wanted to donate an organ to him.
When he turned 21, he also chose not to opt out of the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA), Jeffrey said.
After a day of deliberation, the family decided to honour his wishes.
“So we satisfied his wish. Since he could not save his own life, he can save others,” Jeffrey said.
For the family, there is some comfort in knowing that a part of Damian continues to live on through the people he helped save.
“To us, he’s a hero.”
To honour his memory, Damian’s family, friends and relatives also released helium balloons bearing handwritten messages into the sky, after obtaining approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).
Family seeks answers over medical response, hopes to improve combat sports safety
While the family continues to mourn Damian, they are also hoping for answers about what happened in the moments after his fight.
Agnes stressed that their intention was not to discourage people from taking part in combat sports.
Instead, they hope Damian’s death will raise awareness about what can be done to make such events safer.
“I want to make sure that every event is safe for everyone,” she said.
Jeffrey acknowledged that all sports carry risks, but stressed that safety in combat sports “cannot be compromised”.
He said he believed a “proper ambulance” should have been available on site.
“We want to know what exactly happened... whether Damian could have been saved,” Lee said.
According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), SCDF ambulances are activated for life-threatening medical emergencies by calling 995, while private ambulances may be used for less urgent cases.
Licensed ambulance providers must assess a patient’s condition before transport and arrange appropriate alternatives, such as an SCDF ambulance, if they cannot safely convey the patient.
Stomp has reached out to SCDF for comment.
Despite their grief and unanswered questions, the Ong family remains grateful to everyone who supported them during Damian’s final weeks.
“He was very well loved, it was touching,” he said.
The hospital also helped the family create a clay mould of their hands clasped with Damian’s, a keepsake that now sits in their home.
For Lee, the loss remains devastating.
“He’s my beloved son. He’s my son and my friend,” she said, recalling how they would joke around and Damian would sometimes pretend to fight with her.
Agnes, meanwhile, broke down as she recalled wishing she could take her brother’s place while he lay unconscious in hospital.
“But after he died, I realised I don’t want to be the one in the bed because I don’t want him to go through the heartbreak that I’m going through right now,” she said tearfully.
“I would tell him not to worry about us. He can fly high and do his thing in heaven.”
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