New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
‘A young girl’s life was snatched just like that’
MIDDLETOWN — Nneoma Obi was less than a month away from celebrating her 19th birthday when she slipped into a coma in October 2015.
She died Jan. 12 following complications from a traumatic brain injury after choking on a piece of meat, which lodged in her lung over six years ago. She spent the last two months in the coronary care unit at Middlesex Hospital, her family said in her obituary.
Obi, who was in her sophomore year at the University of Connecticut in October 2015 when she returned home to Middletown to participate in a worship vigil for her uncle who had died in Nigeria, where her parents are originally from.
Shortly after returning home, Obi choked on a piece of meat that could not immediately be dislodged. She was rushed to Hartford Hospital, where medical personnel put her on life support.
For her family, taking Obi off life support wasn’t an option, her mother said in 2015. She was eventually moved to Water’s Edge Center for Health & Rehabilitation in Middletown for continued care while the family’s house was being renovated to accommodate her needs.
“Her brain was deprived of oxygen for an unknown amount of time,” her mother Nonye Obi told The Press at the time, explaining that her daughter needed aroundthe-clock care and many therapies.
Donna Gecewicz, a former massage therapist who at the time owned Body Harmony Therapeutic Massage on
Newfield Street, was a family friend of the Obis, and offered to provide free massage therapy to aid the recovery process.
“We were family,” Gecewicz said Friday.
The day before Thanksgiving 2017, more than two years after the initial incident, Obi returned home, where her care was continued in a more familiar environment.
This past fall, Obi was admitted to Middletown Hospital’s critical care unit where she “fought like a lioness” for two months and 22 days, according to her obituary.
“Nneoma fought like a tigress for her life. Her strength amazed everyone, even the doctors. She lived far beyond their predictions. She was God’s epitome of artful creation. She endured all pains, setbacks, agonies,
groans because she wanted to live, but they didn’t let her. A young girl’s life was snatched just like that,” her obituary said.
Gecewicz admitted that no one gave up hope. “No one ever thought she’d die,” she said. “We always were hoping for a miracle.”
Obi was remembered by her friends and family as a dynamic student who was always eager to participate in extracurricular activities, her obit said.
Beginning at a young age at St. Stephens School in Hamden, then at Sacred Heart Academy and finally at UConn, she was into everything, including drama, basketball, and track and field. She was the president of the student council, enjoyed cheerleading, and was a member of the AfricanAmerican Students Association.
Obi was also a skilled poet, and even had two of her poems published, according to her obituary.
She was heavily involved at her church where she was chosen to join the lesson readers at 7, and was very active in the children’s church group.
Memories of Obi’s readings flashed through her mind as friends and classmates performed readings at the funeral service, Gecewicz said. “I was picturing her doing it.”
Funeral services were held Friday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in New Haven. She was buried in Miner Cemetery in Middletown.
“Always be kind, because you just don’t know what every day is going to bring, and Nneoma was always the kindest person,” Gecewicz said.