By Melanie Jones: Subscribe to Melanie's RSS feed
January 19, 2012 12:33 PM EST
Only a few hours after Ariane Noelle Patterson celebrated her 21st birthday on Jan. 17 by thanking God for giving her another year, the Gardner-Webb University collapsed in her religions class and died.
The tragedy has rocked the Boiling Springs, N.C. community over the past two days, but more disturbing is the fact that no report about the religion major's cause of death has yet been released, leaving her tragic passing a mystery to her loved ones.
Patterson Collapses in Class
A spokesman for the private Christian college, Noel Manning said Patterson was in her religion class after lunch when she collapsed to the floor.
A nearby student who was trained emergency medical technician gave her CPR until the paramedics arrived while her classmates prayed in the hallway. Patterson died at Cleveland Regional Medical Center in Shelby, N.C.
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'Thank you God'
Ariane Noelle Patterson appeared perfectly healthy at the start of Jan. 19, 2012. In fact, she was ecstatic.
The GWU student had just turned 21, and wanted to express how grateful she was for making it this far.
"Thank you God for a nother year of life," she posted on Twitter, just hours before going to her religion class.
But the college senior, who was majoring in religious studies and had attended a nearby high school in Rutherford County, was destined not to live past her 21st birthday. And officials and medical examiners are scratching their heads trying to figure out why she died.
Death Still Mystery
Manning reports that Patterson's death is under investigation, but says GWU had no indication that she suffered from chronic health problems.
Medical examiners at the Cleveland Regional Medical Center have declined to comment on cause of death, pending further investigation. Patterson's family has been unavailable for comment.
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