NBC anchor David Bloom.Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
On the 20th anniversary of esteemed NBC News Correspondent David Bloom’s death, his three daughters, now adults, spoke about memories of their father — and shared some of the last words he said to them before he died while on assignment in Iraq.
Bloom’s wife, Melanie, said all three girls had a chance to speak with their father when he called home the day before he died. It was a treasured last memory for each of them.
Soon after embedding with the U.S. military’s 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq, Bloom, then 39, collapsed and died due to a complication from deep vein thrombosis (DVT). He had a pulmonary embolism when a blood clot from his leg moved into an artery in his lungs.
DVT can happen when someone is in a cramped space for a long time and is unable to get up and move around, such as when traveling on a long flight,according to Mayo Clinic.
Daughters of NBC anchor David Bloom.TODAY
Nicole shared a note from her father during Thursday’sTodaysegment, reading aloud, “So when you’re missing me as I am missing you, remember to say a prayer for all the other boys and girls who are missing their mommies and daddies, too. And yes, my dear sweet girls, when I’m a little bit scared, I promise you I will remember you and your mom, and I will know in my heart just how much you love me to the moon and back, right? Love, daddy.”
After her father’s death, Christine said she began writing to him in a diary. “If I was struggling with something, I’d be like, ‘Can you please help me,’ and kind of like reaching out to him up in heaven,” she said Thursday.
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NBC reporter David Bloom.AP Photo/NBC News
The news anchor’s sudden death stunned his family, and Melanie decided to partner with the Coalition to Prevent DVT to help educate the world about the medical condition.
“We had braced ourselves for all the war-related dangers that that assignment entailed,” Melanie toldTodayin a prior interview. “But when I got that call, I had never heard of DVT myself … The more I learned, the more shocked I was. It wasn’t an IED or a bomb that took his life. It was this DVT.”
Bloom won various awards for his journalism during his career and was known for his reporting on 9/11, the Bosnian War and Hurricane Andrew.
source: people.com
