A British family is grieving the sudden loss of their 13-year-old daughter, Kasey-Lei Greene, who collapsed and went into cardiac arrest while watching a movie in Abu Dhabi.
Kasey-Lei had moved to the United Arab Emirates with her family in 2024. On September 4, she headed to the Vox Cinema at Yas Mall with a friend for an evening out, planning to have a sleepover afterward.
Her father, Marc Greene, 37, said she left home around 5:30 p.m. after convincing him to order a taxi for the two girls. “She gave me a hug and said goodbye,” he told Birmingham Live. Less than an hour later, he received a call from her friend.
“[Her friend] called me from Kasey’s phone and said, ‘Kasey’s passed out,’” Marc recalled. “I ran straight to the car. The cinema is not even half a mile from my house. When I got there, they had a defibrillator on her, and the ambulance crew was already working.”
Emergency responders performed CPR for nearly two hours before rushing Kasey-Lei to hospital. Despite their efforts, she could not be revived. Marc said she had experienced some health issues previously but nothing that suggested this could happen.
He also shared a haunting memory of their final moments together: “She just grabbed me and said to her friend, ‘Quick, take a picture of me and my dad.’ She held me so tight; like she knew it was the last time.”
Kasey-Lei’s funeral was held on October 3 in Birmingham, attended by more than 600 mourners, with friends and classmates in Abu Dhabi joining the service online.
Her parents described her as bright, social, and full of warmth. “She made friends so easily,” Marc said. “Our house was always full of her friends; she just drew people to her.”
In her memory, the family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to build clean water wells in Kenya, Tanzania, and Cameroon, calling it Kasey’s Wells of Life.
“Kasey was full of life, laughter, and kindness,” the campaign reads. “Her smile could light up any room. We want her name and spirit to continue touching lives around the world.”
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