MILWAUKEE — The sister of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee freshman, who died suddenly on Halloween, is speaking out for the first time about the death of her brother. Logan Tomasello collapsed in his sister's apartment, just off campus, after she says he vaped THC.
Looking through photos of her little brother brings Lexi some comfort. Only two years apart, they were best friends, attending UW-Milwaukee together.
"He was good at making people feel better," Lexi said. "There were so many times I'd be going through something difficult, and I'd ask him if he could come over and talk, because he just had this way about him. We were so close," she said.
Now, during a time when she needs him the most, Lexi is haunted by her brother's death.
"He had come over on Halloween for help with a costume," she said. "At one point, he said that he needed to sit down. Then he immediately collapsed on the kitchen chair next to me. He just fell and went limp. His eyes rolled back. I tried to catch him. He was unresponsive."
Lexi called 911, and the operator instructed her on how to do chest compression's. Once first responders arrived, she joined Logan in the ambulance. Lexi Tomasello's worst nightmare came true after the ambulance arrived at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital.
"They told me they had to stop trying to resuscitate him because he wasn't going to come back," she said. "I wouldn't let him go. I was laying with him for awhile. I remember I just saying I love you. Please come back. I don't want this to happen."
With toxicology results still pending, the 19-years-old's death remains a mystery.
"The autopsy showed he didn't have any underlying health conditions," she said.
His sister says that shortly before collapsing, Logan vaped THC -- something that Lexi and their mother were trying to get him to stop doing.
According to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office, there's no evidence Logan suffered any type of vaping-related lung injury. But Lexi and her family believe that there must have been something toxic in the vape cartridge.
"Something else was in it, that shouldn't have been in it," she said.
She says her brother never did hard drugs, but also never saw vaping as a threat. Her mission now is to get others to think twice.
"Just stop, because I'd really, really hate for this to happen to anyone else," she said. "It's not worth it."
