
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990                   TAG: 9003232629
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: APPOMATTOX                                LENGTH: Short

GIRL WITH HEART PROBLEM DIES WHILE AT SCHOOL

An 11-year-old girl who underwent three open heart surgery operations died at Appomattox Elementary School from what was believed to be heart complications.

Maria Ferguson was walking back to her classroom after lunch Monday afternoon when she collapsed on a stairwell and died.

School officials believe the child's "existing heart conditions" contributed to her death, said principal Janice Marston.

Maria, who suffered from congenital heart disease, had her first open heart surgery at age 5. Her father, Bernard Carpenter, described it as a hole in her heart. The girl had her most recent surgery in the middle of December and Carpenter said she was never the same afterward.

- Associated Press

by CNB