16-year-old dies suddenly at basketball practice in New York City, mom says
For Edna Georges, the sudden death of her 16-year-old son at a basketball practice the day after Christmas is hard to process.
“I have a good one,” the mourning mother told NBC New York. “Had. God.”
Georges says Lenny Pierre, her son, was practicing with his team at John Bowne High School in Queens, New York City, when he started to look ill on Wednesday.
“He said while he was playing, they saw him a little shaky,” Georges told NBC New York. “They told him have a seat. He said he was lightheaded. Just moments later, he collapsed.”
Pierre left his home Wednesday morning to go to practice, his mom said. But the teenager didn’t answer his phone later in the day — and then Georges says she “got the call from the coach” about the bad news, according to the New York Daily News.
The teen died at New York Presbyterian Hospital after “police said they responded to a 911 call around 12:03 p.m. from John Bowne High School” and rushed the unconscious boy to medical help, according to amNewYork.
According to WPIX11, “he went into cardiac arrest during basketball practice, officials said.”
Daniel Georges, the boy’s uncle, told the New York Daily News that Pierre didn’t survive long after collapsing.
“When I had got (to the hospital), they had already finished CPR and he was dead,” he told the New York Daily News. “He was perfectly healthy, played basketball all the time, nothing out of the ordinary at all.”
Edna Georges told WPIX that the boy’s death was surprising because she didn’t know that he had any threatening medical condition.
“I have a healthy boy,” she told the outlet. “I don’t know what went wrong, to tell you the truth.”
“He was not allergic to anything,” she continued, according to NBC New York. “He was not on any medication. Healthy as you could imagine.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio mourned the boy’s death in a statement.
“As a parent, and as a father of student athletes, I can only imagine the pain and sorrow being felt by Lenny’s family, loved ones and classmates,” it said, according to amNewYork. “On behalf of 8.6 million New Yorkers, I extend our deepest condolences.”
Now, Edna Georges says she is left with a “big hole in my heart,” according to the New York Daily News.
“My son’s gone too soon. I truly will miss my son forever,” she told the newspaper. “... That’s my first born. Even if I have another son it’ll never be Lenny, my sweetheart, my sweet son.”