Supporting Families. Saving Lives.
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When Christine Puricelli looks back on her daughter Emilie’s life, she sees the clues. The fainting. Complaints of a wild racing heart during workouts for high school basketball. She remembers what Emilie would say, some days, after practice. “Mom. It can’t be normal that your heart goes that crazy when you exercise.”
Emilie Puricelli died in her sleep on a Saturday morning more than 14 years ago. She was 22. It was her fall semester at Arizona State University.
Emilie was supposed to wake early for a staff meeting at her part-time job. But when Christine walked out to the driveway that morning to pick up the newspaper, she froze. Emilie’s car was still there. She ran upstairs and found her daughter still in bed and unresponsive.
“It was like starring in your very own, living color, horror movie,” she says. “Your 22-year-old goes to bed and never wakes up?”