An 18-year-old varsity cheerleader from North Little Rock, Arkansas, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday from a blood clot, sending her family, friends, and community into shock.
Victoria Moody, a senior at North Little Rock High School, was taken to the hospital on Sunday evening by her father, Brian Moody, after she said she wasn’t feeling well.
“She apparently had a pulmonary embolism that was just too far advanced to stop it,” reported Victoria’s older sister, Brooke McCarty.
McCarty said that her sister had been perfectly healthy leading up to her tragic death. She also said that her sister was a wonderful person who had a bright future ahead of her.
“I just wish more than anything that she would be here, and I just don’t really understand how it happened, or why it happened,” said the grieving sister.
“She was absolutely the best human being I knew, and I’m forever grateful for the 18 years that I got to be with her,” McCarty added. “She was going to go to the University of Arkansas or Mississippi State, she had gotten scholarships, and she got invited into the honors program.”
Some local businesses have made merchandise commemorating Victoria, and Mr. Moody says that he would like all the proceeds to go towards the development of more research on pulmonary embolisms.
As far as the available reporting on this tragedy goes, there is no indication that Victoria had any underlying health issues.
Hopkins Medicine defines a pulmonary embolism as ” a blood clot that develops in a blood vessel in the body (often in the leg). It then travels to a lung artery where it suddenly blocks blood flow.”
Symptoms include, but are not limited to: sudden shortness of breath, chest pain, a feeling of anxiety, a feeling of dizziness, irregular heartbeat, palpitations, coughing/coughing up blood, sweating, and low blood pressure.