In Gwinnett County, people are feeling really sad because a mom passed away in a very shocking way. It’s even more sad because she had a young family.
Cathy Weed was spending a usual day with her family when something really bad happened. Her family said that she stepped on a bunch of ants at her house in Lawrenceville and suddenly passed away.
Cathy had a 15-year-old son named Gray who is in 10th grade and loves to play baseball at Mountain View High School. Cathy was an awesome mom who would always be there to cheer for Gray when he was playing baseball.
The people in the Mountain View community came together on the baseball field to honor Cathy Weed after she passed away. She was like a strong support for the community and everybody is super sad because of her death.
The reason why Cathy died so suddenly was because she was extremely allergic to fire ants. When she stepped on the pile of ants, her body reacted really badly and she passed away before she could get her medicine.
In 2018, Cathy had a close call with the same kind of allergy when an ant bit her and she had to go to the hospital. Back then, she talked about how important it is to have EpiPens (a medicine to stop bad allergic reactions) and that there weren’t enough of them. She warned people to always have a not-expired EpiPen or it could be really dangerous. Sadly, this same allergy is what caused her death years later.
The folks in the community have started a special way to help Cathy Weed’s family. People can give money or offer to bring meals to the family through a donation website.
Cathy’s son, Gray, is getting lots of love and support from the community and his baseball friends. Cathy’s obituary, which is like a message remembering her life, says she was an amazing person who made a positive impact on everyone. It talks about her friendly smile, kind heart, and how caring she was.
Gray’s baseball coach, Jason Johnson, talked about how great Cathy was and how close she was with her son. He said, “She was everything to him, and he was everything to her.” This is such a sad story, and it’s important to think about her family during this tough time.
