By RHONDOR DOWLAT Saturday, July 24 2010

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IN BETTER TIMES: Pamela Prince with her daughter Teryl in better times. The ten-year-old child collapsed and died suddenly on Thursday....

TRAGEDY took place at a children’s vacation camp when ten-year-old Teryl Prince of Laventille Road, San Juan, collapsed suddenly and died during play time at the camp at a primary school in San Juan on Thursday morning.

An autopsy revealed that death was due to a brain aneurysm, which is an excessive localised swelling of the wall of an artery. The autopsy was conducted at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mount Hope.

Speaking with Newsday yesterday, Teryl’s grandfather Ralph said she was skipping during playtime shortly before 11 am at the San Juan Seventh-Day Adventist Primary School, when she collapsed and died. He said she suffered with asthma but, “didn’t think that she would die like that. It was so sudden and just a complete shock to all of us”. Teryl’s mother, Pamela, said although her daughter suffered from asthma, she said the death was not due to asthma. “It was a rare case as explained to me by the doctor. He explained that because she was skipping and spinning around she exhausted herself and fell down. The exhaustion caused a pressure build-up which affected the brain and caused deadly swelling.

“The teachers and the principal did everything possible for my daughter and I thank them so much,” Pamela said.

Pamela described her daughter, who was the third of five children, as a loving child. “She was such a loving child, always giving hugs to everyone. She loved hairdressing and fashion. She always used to be combing her sister’s hair and styling it.”

Teryl’s funeral service will be held at 11 am next Tuesday at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in San Juan.