Marilyn Kasputys tried to hold on for the Super Bowl, and she almost made it. But as the first half drew to a close with Kasputys’s favorite team behind by three scores, her family knew it was time to say goodbye.

She had endured Parkinson’s disease and fought through seven hip surgeries in 15 months, but the most recent procedure came with dangerous hemorrhaging, her family said, and by Saturday it had become clear the Lincoln resident would not recover.

Ever confident in her team, Kasputys, 80, spent her final days at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington under a fleece New England Patriots blanket. And though her voice was weak after a breathing tube was removed, her last word before the game Sunday was “champagne.’’

Her family brought in a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and gave her a little.

“We all celebrated that way, the Pats game came on, and she left us just about halftime,’’ said her husband, Joseph Kasputys.

Even the biggest sporting event of the year can seem small compared with matters of life, death, and loss. But for many families in mourning, sports can offer moments of reflection, faith, and deep connection.

By the time Kasputys’s family again looked at the score, the Patriots were on the way to their historic comeback. Joy Prudek, one of Kasputys’s four daughters, said family members caught the end of the game back in Lincoln. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

“We ended up jumping around and screaming in the living room, and we said, ‘It’s mom. We know it’s mom.’ Especially that Edelman catch,’’ Prudek said. “It was just a very sweet thing to happen after losing this amazing woman who did so much for us all these years.’’

Marilyn Kasputys, who before she got sick was an accomplished ice dancer, had six grandchildren and three young great-grandchildren. For the family of avid football fans, her final days and death provided an occasion to be together for the championship run.

Prudek, who came in from Sun Valley, Idaho, said she asked her mother last week whether she thought the Patriots were going to win. “Very clearly, I could hear this. She said, ‘You bet we are.’ ’’

On Tuesday, Prudek, her sister Jacqueline Albrecht, and Albrecht’s daughter, Cassandra, huddled at the Super Bowl victory parade along Tremont Street. Marilyn’s cherished blanket — which had been a gift from Albrecht’s husband — kept them warm and dry in the wet snow.

Because she lives so far away, Prudek had never been to a victory parade before.

“She had her arms around us protecting us from the cold,’’ Prudek said. “I knew she was in heaven, even happier than she would be otherwise, and we were happy for that.’’

Andy Rosen can be reached at andrew.rosen@globe.com.