An Ethiopian Olympic runner living in Westport, Connecticut died of a massive heart attack, but hospital personnel was able to deliver the 26-year-old’s baby.
According to The Hartford Courant, Meskerem Legesse suffered a massive heart attack Monday. She was eight months pregnant and set to deliver the child in three weeks. Hamden, Conn. police say they responded to a call at 2 p.m. Monday and fire department personnel performed CPR at the scene.
She was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. However, staff was able to deliver the baby, a girl. Legesse is survived by her husband Tom Laverty and their two-year-old son.
“It is very sad. She was a very good person,” friend Fatima Sene told The Associated Press. “She would do anything for anybody. And she loved that little boy she left behind.”
Sene said that Legesse collapsed at a Chinese restaurant. She added that Legesse had suffered heart problems.
Legesse competed for Ethiopia during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens when she was 17. She placed 12th in the 1,500-meter event.
NBC affiliate WFSB, which first reported the news, obtained surveillance footage of Legesse at the Chinese restaurant, where she had gone to pick up a take-out order.