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A family seeking a “fresh start” recently relocated to Piedmont, Alabama, only to face an unimaginable tragedy just weeks after settling into their new home.
PIEDMONT, Ala. — On Christmas Day, a 16-year-old girl named Scarlett Durden experienced a sudden cardiac arrest shortly after opening gifts with her family.
Scarlett’s family, in a heartfelt fundraiser, remembered her as “wonderfully goofy, silly, and full of life,” capturing the essence of her vibrant personality.
“It’s not the natural order of things for parents to bury their children,” expressed her mother, Janice Durden, in an emotional interview with WBRC. “I must ensure that my daughters always remember their sister.”
Janice recounted to WBRC that her youngest daughter, Shaylee, noticed Scarlett behaving unusually. When they went to check on her, they found her collapsed on the pantry floor, prompting an urgent call to 911.
“Her heart just stopped. An all-too-familiar story for our family,” her aunt Heather Stitch wrote in a Facebook post remembering Scarlett.
She was pronounced dead at the hospital after medical professionals gave her CPR for 90 minutes, according to PEOPLE.
The family has a history of heart-related health issues and deaths, according to PEOPLE, and Scarlett’s father was in the hospital awaiting a heart transplant for a genetic heart condition.
“One of the nurses was talking to me and said that it looks similar to what you see in athletes, which they call sudden cardiac death,” Janice Durden told WIAT. “But they cannot say for sure because they have to wait for autopsy reports to get back.”
The family asked for Scarlett’s heart to be examined to learn more about what happened and help another family.
“It could be something not even related that caused it or something, but my brother said today if it’s not too late, I would like anyone that could, to study her heart to see if it could make a difference later for someone,” Stich told WBRC.
An autopsy would take weeks to complete.
Scarlett was part of the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) and didn’t have any medical issues beyond asthma, her mother said.
“She was absolutely fine. No complaints about chest pain, no complaints about shortness of breath, no complaints of not feeling well,” Janice Durden told PEOPLE. “She was in front of me, and then she wasn’t.”
The family just moved to Piedmont, Alabama for a “fresh start” and had been in their new home for a few weeks before the tragedy.
Scarlett’s funeral is planned for Saturday, Jan. 3.
