They should have been planning the last details of her Sweet 16, but a Whitestone family instead had to plan a funeral for their only daughter.
It was on August 16, said Laura Buccellato that her daughter Theresa died – tragically and unexpectedly.
She had been out with friends that day, said her mother.
The group went into a local pizzeria and Theresa had her head down when suddenly she went into distress. Her friends thought she was having a panic attack.
But when she got worse after a half-hour, they decided to call her father, Michael.
Laura alleges that in the interim, no one had attempted to help her daughter or call for medical attention.
Michael got there and called 9-1-1 immediately. At that point, said her mother, Theresa was awake. But by the time she got to the pizzeria, Theresa had lost consciousness.
“My daughter was on the stretcher, I rode in the ambulance with her.”
They took Theresa to New York Hospital Queens, but the 16-year-old – who had celebrated her birthday on July 7 and whose Sweet 16 invitations had been mailed out one-and-a-half weeks before – never regained consciousness.
“She was my best friend,” said her mother, who worried how Theresa’s grandparents in Howard Beach would react to the devastating news. “We donated her eyes – which Theresa loved – bone and parts of her heart.”
At her wake, said Laura, were hundreds of people – from teachers and classmates from Saint Francis Prep; to the whole volleyball team, in uniform, from St. John’s University, where Theresa worked as a summer counselor for two years.
“She knew everybody,” said Laura, who said her daughter, who either wanted to be a veterinarian or work with project children, spent time at the St. Fidelis Youth Center, was on the D&G softball team and loved music.
“We were very close, she came to me with everything,” continued Laura emotionally. “I lost it [when she died].”
And though the cause of death is as yet undetermined, it is believed to have been a pulmonary embolism.
And as her classmates returned from summer vacation, the staff at Prep is preparing a memorial concert in Theresa’s honor – and helping the students cope with the tragedy.
“She was such a vibrant kid,” said her homeroom teacher, Paul Cohen. “She was incredibly involved in the Christian community, she was exceptional. I felt as though I lost a child of my own.”
Laura told The Courier that all proceeds for the concert will be going toward a scholarship in Theresa’s name at St Francis Prep.
“Prep and [principal] Brother Leonard Conway have been absolutely wonderful,” said Laura.
“This has been a big loss for the Prep community,” said Theresa’s 9th grade religion teacher, Susan Vivona.
