(ProsperNews.net) – A 14-year-old Illinois girl died on court during a high school junior varsity basketball game. Amari Crite, a pupil at Momence High School in Kankakee County, collapsed in the middle of the game against the Tri-Point team and died instantly.
Shannon Anderson, the superintendent of Kankakee County school district, said, “We are deeply saddened to confirm the heart-breaking news of the passing of one our ninth grade students. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends affected by this tragic loss.” The school district is offering grief counseling to students, and a GoFundMe account for Amari’s family raised $50,000 in just a few days.
Friends and family left moving tributes to the teenager online, with one former teacher describing her as a “beautiful soul.” Her father posted a photo of them and wrote, “I miss my silly girl.”
The Kankakee County Coroner’s Office said it is still investigating the cause of death, but previous social media posts from Amari suggest she may have had serious health problems in the past year. Last April, she posted on Instagram saying she had been to an appointment with a neurosurgeon and that brain imaging showed a mass, but doctors said was benign. “Praise God,” she wrote.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that around 2,000 young people die suddenly in the United States every year. A study into the phenomena, published by the National Library of Medicine, found that roughly 25% of these deaths occur during sports. Most fatalities are caused by underlying heart problems, with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and coronary artery anomalies cited as the most common two.
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetic condition that doctors say affects about 1 in every 167 people. It causes the heart’s left ventricle to enlarge and thicken, reducing blood view and impacting aortic function. Coronary artery anomalies are usually present at birth but often remain undetected. These are most often characterized by abnormally sized or wrongly positioned arteries.
Copyright 2024, ProsperNews.net
