Florida student dies after collapsing in gym

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A South Florida community is mourning the loss of a 10th grade student after he collapsed on a basketball court.

Wednesday afternoon was devastating for the father of Edly Pierre-Louis. WSVN reports he rushed to Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School in Northeast Miami-Dade to find out his son collapsed on the basketball court.

This is what Gerald Laguerre, a good friend of the student’s family said:

Suddenly, you know, the family got a phone call. They had to report to the school. We believe that [Edly] went, like, six laps that Wednesday, while in P.E. around 1 p.m., and then after that, the 15-year-old went inside the gym to play basketball. That’s when, we heard, that he collapsed.

Laguerre said Pierre-Louis was taken to the Joe DiMaggio’s Children Hospital in Hollywood. After four days in the hospital, he passed away early Sunday morning.

Pierre-Louis looked very healthy. LaGuerre showed a photo of him to WSVN that was taken only a few days ago.

“Edly was a very healthy young man,” LaGuerre said. “You took your child to school, you expect your child to come back safe,” he continued, “give me a hug and say, ‘Mom, school was good’ or blah, blah, blah, but you don’t die in school like that, heart failure, when you’ve never had any medical condition. It doesn’t make any sense to us.”

The spokesman for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, John Schuster, said in a statement released Monday:

Students and staff at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School were dealing with the loss of a fellow student today, and the District’s crisis counseling team was dispatched to the school to assist as needed. Our hearts and minds are with the family of the student during this difficult time.

Pierre-Louis used to have a website he created in middle school to write about his family, hopes and dreams. Laguerre said, “He loved science; that’s why he wanted to care for people. That’s why he wanted to go into the medical field and eventually become a doctor.”

His family said they are not sure why the boy died. The cause of death has not yet been determined. They said they are going to request the surveillance videos and study the materials in order to determine what caused the teenager to collapse.