19-Year-Old Soccer Player Dies from Brain Aneurysm After Training at Home
A 19-year-old soccer player from Italy tragically died this week after exercising at his home during the coronavirus lockdown.
Andrea Rinaldi, a midfielder with Serie A club Atalanta, was training on Friday when he suffered a brain aneurysm, according to ESPN. He died three days later.
Rinaldi had been a part of the Atalanta franchise since he was 13 years old and helped the team win the under-17 league title and Supercup in 2016, CNN reported. The talented teen was recently placed on loan with Serie D club Legnano, who confirmed his death in a statement on Monday.
"Andrea fought for three days after the illness that hit him. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do," the club wrote in a translated statement on their website.
"We could write pages and pages to tell who this golden boy was, exemplary in life and play," their translated statement continued.
Giovanni Munafò, Legnano's president, also recalled Rinaldi's warm-heartedness in the statement.
"Andrea came to training and first came to greet me, this is a memory that I will carry in my heart. An extraordinary boy, an example to everyone," he said.
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Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Andrea Rinaldi
"On behalf of the club, I express my most heartfelt condolences to the family," Munafò added.
Atalanta also posted a heartbreaking tribute to Rinaldi on their website.
"Always available and positive, he knew how to make himself well-liked by everyone," the club wrote. "Just as on the pitch you were always the last to surrender, this time, too, you fought with all your might not to fly away too soon."
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"But that kind smile of yours will always remain alive in the heart of those who have had the good fortune to meet you," they continued.
According to the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, ruptured brain aneurysms occur when there is a bulging spot on an artery in the brain, which weakens over time as blood flows against it. This bulge can swell, and with added pressure, the spot will rupture and release blood around the brain.
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Aneurysms are most prevalent in people 35 to 60 years old, the foundation says, and an estimated 6 million people in the United States have an unruptured brain aneurysm.
Of the people who experience a rupture, 40 percent will die, and 66 percent of those who survive will experience neurological problems.