On Saturday, March 21, Google Trends reported that Lisa Colagrossi received more than 50,000 searches from people querying Colagrossi’s name. That’s because Lisa, a longtime reporter for WABC-TV’s Eyewitness News, died suddenly and unexpectedly on Friday at the age of 49 after leaving a news assignment. It was a fatal brain aneurysm that attacked Colagrossi after covering a four-alarm fire that occurred in Queens late Wednesday evening.
It was inside the news van on Thursday after the live report that Colagrossi confessed to feeling there was a problem with her health.
“She was in the news van after finishing her live shot when she said ‘Oh my God, something is wrong.’”
After a WABC-TV cameraman called an ambulance, which transported Lisa to the Intensive Care Unit at the New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, Colagrossi was put on life support but never became conscious again.
According to the New York Daily News , Lisa’s colleagues report that the hockey mom’s death has placed them in shock. An emotional video tribute to Lisa appears on the New York Daily News website, which traverses the journalist’s career. While Lisa began at WABC as a morning reporter the Sunday after September 11, 2001 — her experience prior to joining Chanel 7 included news positions in Cleveland and Orlando at KMG. The latter location is where she gained two local Emmy awards.
She raised chickens for fresh eggs; she made her own maple syrup; & she told us the day’s news. @LColagrossi7 #abc7ny pic.twitter.com/IrYCXxFehF
— Lucy Yang (@LucyYang7) March 21, 2015
Twitter came alive with tweets of Colagrossi and her “Renaissance woman”-type of skills, including raising chickens and making her own syrup.
Lisa’s family was at her bedside when physicians told them the sad news that Colagrossi was unlikely to recover.
With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of our friend and colleague Lisa Colagrossi. http://t.co/f2WKBwHj8z pic.twitter.com/WeDKlvdIGU
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) March 21, 2015
Dave Davis of WABC-TV issued a statement on Friday after news of the 49-year-old’s shocking death emerged.
“Lisa Colagrossi embodied the Eyewitness News spirit—a straightforward reporter who told the truth, empathetic to the everyday citizens of the New York area, and demanding of those in power.”
A brain hemorrhage can be fatal or survivable, depending on the severity of the event. As reported by the Inquisitr , Dan Dotson of Storage Wars suffered two aneurysms — with one positioned behind his eye and the second within his neck. After surgery, he was able to recover.
[Image via Instagram]