“It has been so traumatic,” Norman White’s daughter said
A father passed away while attending the funeral of his son in England, and his daughter now believes he may have died of a broken heart.
Norman “Nosha” White, 61, is believed to have suffered a massive heart attack during the funeral service for his son, David Beilicki, 41, at St. Bede’s Chapel at Teesside Crematorium in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, on August 21, according to Teesside Live and Wales Online. The father of seven later died.
Chantelle, Norman’s daughter, explained that her father had no prior history of heart problems. “I think he must have died from a broken heart,” she told Teesside Live. “I think seeing all the family together like that must have been too much.”
David was discovered dead on a family member’s sofa on July 31, which marked the 10th anniversary of the memorial service for his twin sons, Karson and Deacon, who were stillborn, Teesside Live reported.
Although David had struggled for years with drug addiction, his sister Chantelle said she believed he had been doing well in recent times, staying away from drugs before his sudden death.
When Chantelle arrived at her brother’s funeral, she said she was shocked to find out that her father had collapsed. She compared the tragic sequence of events to something that could only be seen in films.
“It has been so traumatic,” said Chantelle, 42. “You wouldn’t ever think of anything like this happening, you couldn’t write it.”
While rare, dying of a broken heart is medically possible, according to information provided by the Mayo Clinic. The condition, known as broken heart syndrome, is often “brought on by stressful situations and extreme emotions.”
One of the primary symptoms is “sudden chest pain” that can resemble a heart attack. The condition can “briefly interrupt the way the heart pumps blood.”
However, unlike a typical heart attack that occurs due to “a complete or near-complete blockage of a heart artery,” broken heart syndrome does not involve blocked arteries, the Mayo Clinic explained. Instead, “blood flow in the arteries of the heart may be reduced.”
