A 17-year-old singer has died after suffering a stroke just before she was due to perform at a festival in Romania.
Andreea Micu was with a folk dance ensemble at the event in Bisoca on 9 May when she complained of a severe headache and collapsed. She was rushed to hospital in Buzău before being transferred to a specialist facility in Bucharest, where she was diagnosed with a stroke and underwent emergency treatment.
After two weeks in a coma, she died on Saturday (23 May). Her grandfather, instrumentalist Cristian Micu, said she “had so many dreams and so many friends”. He wrote online: “Do you know what I wish for right now, Andreea? I wish God would slap me awake from this sleep and tell me it was all just a bad dream, and that you’re okay.”
Andreea, from Vintilă Vodă, came from a family of artists. She attended high school in Buzău and was part of a folk dance ensemble in Mânzălești. She frequently appeared on stage with her grandfather, including on TV programmes and in live performances.
Stroke rates in older adults have declined, but cases in people under 55 have been rising sharply over the past 10–20 years, with around 20,000 new “young stroke” cases annually in the UK, according to a 2024 study.
