An Ottawa high school student died over the weekend after suffering a head injury during a rugby game last week.

Seventeen-year-old Rowan Stringer died on Sunday after she was injured during a game at John McCrae High School last Wednesday.

Her mother, Kathleen Stringer, said her daughter hit the ground during the game and tried to sit up before falling back to the ground unconscious. She never woke up.

“It is very sad,” Stringer told CTV Ottawa on Monday. “It will be strange to be in the house and to walk past her room and she’s not there.”

The teen’s parents said that it was only after her death that they learned she had been having headaches after playing in games the previous Friday and Monday, a sign she had already suffered a head injury. Rowan, who served as captain of the team, never told her parents or her coach about the headaches.

School officials told CTV Ottawa that had they known about Rowan’s symptoms, they would not have let her play.

Kathleen and Gordon Stringer said a policy should be put in place that compels students, or their teammates, to tell someone if they suspect an injury.

“We really should put something in place where if anyone hears anything that the kids understand it’s in the best interest to tell a teacher or a coach,” Kathleen said.

In the wake of Stringer’s death, all sports at John McCrae High School have been cancelled until further notice.

The Ottawa Carleton District School Board issued a statement Monday offering its condolences to the Stringer family.

"Our school community is in mourning and together, we will support each other in this time of need," the board said.

Flags were lowered at the school on Monday, and students were encouraged to wear purple, Rowan’s favourite colour.

Rowan had planned to attend the University of Ottawa this fall to study nursing. She had spoken to her parents about organ donation, and they complied with her wishes.

Six people across Ontario received her organs, including two children. Her pancreas went to a patient in Toronto, her liver to a patient in London, and “her heart stayed in Ottawa,” her father said.

“I got a lot of my strength from her,” Gordon Stringer said. “She would have wanted us to be strong.”

With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Natalie Pierosara and files from The Canadian Press