Tufts student, 20, dies after choking during charity hotdog-eating contest
A Tufts University lacrosse player choked to death during a hot dog-eating contest over the weekend, according to her team.
Madie Nicpon, 20, was participating in the charity contest at the “Play for Pink” breast cancer awareness day and fundraiser Saturday, when she started choking and fell unconscious. She was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital and died a day later.
“Madie will be remembered as a bright light, a social butterfly, an amazing teammate, a kind and generous person, a wonderful sister and daughter and a Jumbo that we can all aspire to emulate,” Tufts lacrosse said in a statement.
“She will be missed every day.”
Nicpon, originally from Suffern, N.Y., was studying biopsychology at the Medford, Mass., college.
Thousands of people gathered Sunday at the lacrosse field for a makeshift memorial for Nicpon, leaving candles and her jerseys.
“The number of community members who turned out to lend support to each other, to Madie’s friends, and to her family was a testament to how many lives Madie touched during her time at Tufts,” University president Anthony P. Monaco, James M. Glaser, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Camille Lizarríbar, dean of student affairs, said in a joint statement.
