An infant born to an unconscious, severely brain-damaged mother has died, according to the family.

A family statement says Susan Anne Catherine Torres, born prematurely on August 2, died of heart failure Sunday after emergency surgery to repair a perforated intestine.

A spokeswoman at St. Rita's Church in Alexandria says parishioners were told of the child's death during morning mass.

The infant's condition had deteriorated rapidly over the weekend, according to the family.

Cancer patient Susan Torres was kept alive on life support for three months so she could deliver the child.

Torres, a 26-year-old researcher at the National Institutes of Health, suffered a stroke in May after melanoma spread to her brain.