BOSTON — A woman running in the Boston Marathon to raise money for cancer patients collapsed and later died, becoming the second runner to die in the 106-year history of the race.
Cynthia Lucero, 28, was one of 150 runners in Monday's race who were raising money for the Massachusetts chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
According to a friend, Carole Slipowitz, Lucero stopped near Cleveland Circle, not far from the finish line, saying she felt dehydrated. She grew wobbly-kneed and fainted.
By the time she was transported to a hospital, Lucero was nearly in a coma. Her life support systems were removed Wednesday night and she died.
"At this point, it is impossible to say why she died," Dr. Marvin Adner, the marathon medical director, said Wednesday. "There could be a dozen reasons: a seizure, heat stroke, spontaneous bleeding. She could have hit her head falling to the street."
Rick Muhr, who served as the coach for the leukemia society team, said Lucero "was a hard trainer and very much ready for the race." He said she had run one previous marathon, in San Diego two years ago, and completed that course in about 4 1/2 hours.
Lucero had just finished her doctoral dissertation at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology in Boston.
In 1996, Humphrey Siesage, a Swedish marathoner, died of a heart attack at the finish line.