Friends and family are mourning a pregnant teen who died Saturday morning after shoveling snow outside her home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.
UPDATE: Briahna Gerloff's funeral was set for Feb. 1
A family member told NBC10 18-year-old Briahna Gerloff collapsed after shoveling snow outside her home on 2nd Street around 9 a.m.
Family members said Gerloff was 8 months pregnant and suffered from several heart defects, including Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW), a disorder caused by an abnormal accessory electrical conduction pathway between the atria and the ventricles.
"I told her it probably wasn’t a good idea for her to be outside shoveling," a family member said. "She wanted to do it anyway."
The family member said he went across the street to take a break while Gerloff went back inside. When the family member returned to Gerloff’s home, the front door was locked. He went through the basement door and searched for her.
"I went upstairs, yelling her name, looking for her,” he recalled. "I went to the bottom of the steps and yelled her name."
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The family member entered the kitchen, where he found Gerloff unresponsive on the floor.
"I started doing CPR," he said. "That’s when my neighbor came over and helped with CPR and tried to revive her and then the ambulance came."
After police and medics arrived at the scene, Gerloff’s family learned the tragic news. Briahna and her baby, Kayliana, had died.
"She was a very good person," the family member said, "a caring and loving person and she could not wait to be a mother."
A childhood friend told NBC10 Briahna’s mother passed away three years ago. The friend set up a GoFundMe page to help with the family’s funeral costs.
A candlelight vigil will be held for Briahna and Kayliana on Saturday, Jan. 30 at 5 p.m. on 14 E. Second Street in Pottstown. The family is requesting that anyone who attends bring a lit candle, flower or object to lay down.
Police have not yet determined a cause of death. The investigation is ongoing.
