On Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023, Dominica Padilla, then 35, woke up around 5 a.m., her normal weekend time. She wished her sister and mother-in-law a joint happy birthday and wandered into the kitchen to make breakfast. Her 12-year-old son had a football game a long drive from their Tucson, Arizona home, and she needed to get him ready.
But Padilla didn’t feel well. She had a bad headache and an upset stomach. She felt dizzy. She reconsidered the drive and arranged for a relative to take her son instead. The game would be livestreamed; she could watch from home.
She took Tylenol and laid down on the couch. Some gut feeling told her not to fall asleep…