It’s been a sorrowful couple of days for the DePrince family.
Just one day after the family suddenly announced that ballet dancer Michaela Mabinty DePrince had passed away, the family released another statement confirming the death of her adoptive mother Elaine DePrince.
NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 26: Elaine DePrince (L) and Ballerina Michaela DePrince attend the Jockey “Show’Em What’s Underneath, Show’Em Your Jockey” Event in NYC at One World Observatory on April 26, 2017 in New York City. Source: Jason Kempin / Getty
The statement was released by family spokesperson Jess Volinski, where she not only cleared up any misinformation regarding the details surrounding the deaths but also revealed that Elaine was not even aware of Michaela’s passing before she died.
The Facebook post reads, “Michaela passed away on September 10th, not the 13th as some places have reported. Her mother Elaine died during a routine procedure in preparation for a surgery on September 11th. Michaela died before Elaine and Elaine did not know of Michaela’s passing at the time of her procedure. As unbelievable as it may seem, the two deaths were completely unrelated.”
Ballet dancer Michaela DePrince poses on July 12, 2012 in Johannesburg, South Africa. DePrince is in South Africa to perform her first professional full ballet role as the lead in ‘Le Corsaire.’ DePrince, who was born in Sierra Leone, escaped the civil war and was adopted by a family in the U.S. Source: Gallo Images / Getty
“What the family is going through right now is truly unimaginably painful,” the statement later says. “Grieving two family members who died within a 24 hour period is tragic and devastating. We continue to ask for privacy and appreciate you directing anyone sharing incorrect information and speculation to this post.”
At a young age, Michaela was sent to an orphanage after losing both parents to the civil war in Sierra Leone. Elaine and her husband Charles DePrince adopted Michaela at age 4. They had 11 children – two biological and nine adopted.
“The only way we can make sense of the senseless is that Elaine, who had already lost three children many years ago, was by the grace of God spared the pain of experiencing the loss of a fourth child,” Volinski states.
In addition to their two sons, Elaine and Charles adopted three more sons who all had hemophilia – which according to the CDC is “usually an inherited bleeding disorder in which blood does not clot properly.” Fortunately blood plasma concentrate was an option for treatment for individuals with hemophilia.
In the 80s, however, the blood plasma concentrate was tainted and over 50% of hemophiliac patients were infected with HIV – including Elaine and Charles’ three sons, Charles John “Cubby,” Michael, and Teddy, who all eventually lost their lives to the infection.
This senseless loss pushed Elaine and Charles in their journey to become hemophilia advocates. They filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, and Elaine also wrote a book in 1997 called Cry Bloody Murder: A Tale of Tainted Blood.
After the death of their three sons, Elaine and Charles went on to adopt six girls, one of them being Michaela – who was renamed in memory of Michael. Her interest in ballet began at a young age and through her talents she was able to become a principal dancer at Dance Theatre of Harlem, she danced with the Dutch National Ballet in the Netherlands, and after that she also joined the Boston Ballet.
Michaela was only 29 at the time of her passing and no cause of death has been revealed.
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