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Heartbreaking details about Olympic track and field star Tori Bowie’s cause of death have been revealed. The three-time medalist was eight months pregnant and in labor at the time of her death, an autopsy report obtained by The New York Times confirmed. Bowie may have suffered complications from respiratory distress and eclampsia.
Bowie was found dead on May 2, by authorities after performing a wellness check requested by friends and family who hadn’t seen or heard from the athlete in days. Bowie’s official cause of death will ultimately be determined by a toxicology report that can take up to three months. Her death was confirmed on May 3 by the U.S.A. Track & Field.
According to The New York Times, “a program provided at the service near her hometown, Sandhill, Miss., said Bowie was preceded in death by a daughter, Ariana Bowie.”
Eclampsia is a complication of preeclampsia, which is defined by clevelandclinic.org as “a disorder of pregnancy in which a person who’s pregnant has high blood pressure and protein in their urine. Eclampsia is when a person with preeclampsia develops seizures (convulsions) during pregnancy. Seizures are episodes of shaking, confusion, and disorientation caused by abnormal brain activity.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black women three-to-four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women.
In the years leading up to her death, Bowie reportedly retreated inward, The New York Times reports. “She even backed away from me,” said her longtime agent, Kimberly N. Holland. “But she always found her way back because of the bond we had.”
Bowie was a shining light at the 2016 Rio Olympics and won a silver medal in the 100 meters, a bronze in the 200 meters and a gold in the 4×100-meter relay.
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Olympic Gold Medalist Tori Bowie Died From Complications Giving Birth was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
