Iraq Veteran-Police Officer died right after her twins were born

Police, family mourn loss of Wis. officer
Stacie Napoli, who served in Iraq and was a 17-year police veteran, died Monday just moments after giving birth to twins
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Jan Uebelherr
February 19, 2014

WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Stacie Napoli had rituals for every ultrasound she underwent. She held a St. Anthony medal given to her by her mother, prayed to St. Gerard and held a holy card from her grandfather's funeral.

"You've never found anyone who wanted children as much as she did," said her mother, Kerri Livermore.

Napoli, who served in Iraq and was a 17-year veteran of the West Allis Police Department, died Monday just moments after giving birth to twins.

As word spread, the department was inundated with condolences and offers of support. A special fund to help the family had already raised more than $20,000 by Tuesday evening. Many donors had never met Napoli, but were heartbroken.

Napoli, 39, died of a pulmonary embolism -- a sudden blockage of a major blood vessel in the lungs, usually by a blood clot — after giving birth by Caesarean section at West Allis Memorial Hospital, according to a medical examiner's report.

The twins, Parker and Ellie, are in intensive care but doing well, said Livermore, of Greenfield. Ellie weighed 2 pounds 4 ounces; Parker weighed 1 pound 15 ounces, she said.
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