“Bizarre” treadmill accident kills mother of four

A 36-year-old mother of four recently died after falling off a treadmill at a fitness club in a rare fatality involving the popular piece of exercise equipment.

Delrie Rosario of Kent., Wash., was killed July 21 after striking her head on the front of the treadmill and then falling off the machine at an LA Fitness Center.

Marissa Woods, Rosario’s sister, told Seattle’s KIRO 7 News she and Rosario were running on treadmills—something she said the pair did almost every day—when the “bizzare” accident occured. Woods said Rosario “tried to slow the machine down. I thought maybe she just missed a step. She just collapsed, [and] hit her head on the machine.”

Rosario lost consciousness after falling off the machine and Woods started screaming for help. Rosario was taken to hospital where she later died.

A GoFundMe page set up after the accident to benefit Rosario’s four children states Rosario was an organ donor and that her posthumous donation helped save five lives. “Delrie is continuing to show that she is an Angel. I have been notified that because of her incredibly generous spirit, she is saving lives even after death. She chose to be an organ donor and with her passing she has now saved five lives. She will continue on in others through her heart, lungs, kidneys and liver. She has truly earned her wings in heaven,” wrote Noelle Meluskey, who set up the fundraiser.

The GoFundMe page pays tribue to Rosario as “an amazing mother … Heartbreakingly she has left behind four beautiful children. She has been the main provider for these babies for a while now, working two jobs to make sure they have whatever they want and need.” As of July 31, the fundraiser has raised more than US$56,000 of its $75,000 goal.

While deaths like Rosario’s are rare, accidents leading to injury are not.  About 24,000 injuries resulting from treadmill accidents occur each year in the United States, according to the National Post. CNN, citing the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, reported there were 30 deaths linked to treadmill accidents between 2003 and 2012—about three per year.

Horizon Fitness treadmills on Canada-wide recall after machines injure six

In 2015, David Goldberg, the chief executive of SurveyMonkey, died during a family vacation in Mexico after falling off a treadmill and hitting his head.