HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014 09-18 North St. Paul teen dies suddenly, family searching for answers KSTP 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS ICSTP(com>--.EIEYEWITNESS N
North St. Paul Teen Dies Suddenly; Family Searching for
Answers
Updated: 09/11/2014 6:17 PM KSTP.com By: Todd Wilson SEP 1 8 2014
Fifteen-year-old Mya Hughes, a bright-eyed sophomore at North 4' 7`-
High School in North St. Paul, died suddenly Monday night.
"She'd just light up the room, I will never get to see that again,"
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Mya's aunt, Antoinette Hughes said.
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She can't hold back her tears. Every time she thinks about her
niece she loses it.
"It hurts," she said.
Hughes tells us Mya was outside her parent's house in Maplewood Monday night with some
friends. Out of nowhere, she fell to the ground.
"She had a massive heart attack. Pretty much she went into cardiac arrest," Hughes said.
Her friends ran and told her mom. She called 911. Mya was eventually taken to the University
of Minnesota Children's Hospital, but by Tuesday afternoon she was gone.
"She was born at 1:43 am, she died at 1:43 pm," Hughes said.
Mya was a singer, a dancer, and she was loved by many. North High School Assistant Principal
Jaysen Anderson he and Mya were close, and Mya's death was completely out of the blue.
"That was probably the hardest part of this whole thing, just kind of grappling with that idea
you just want to go home and hug your kid."
Anderson says the school had a group meeting where students put up a poster in the lunch
room in Mya's memory.
Hughes says the death of Mya has reinforced one simple truth.
"People believe materialistic things are more important, and it's not. It's your family. You got to
hold your family close," she said.
Mya's aunt says, as far as she knows, Mya didn't have a pre-existing heart condition. She did
have some stomach pains a few months ago and had an EKG but nothing was found.
As for her classmates, Assistant Principal Anderson says the school provided counselors for
students who needed someone to talk to.
Mya's family has set up a memorial fund at US Bank. Anyone who would like to help the family
can make checks payable to the Mya Hughes Memorial Fund.