Sweetpea, the star of the Puppy Bowl 2024 and the tiniest puppy to ever participate in the event, died unexpectedly months before the event on her way to the hospital for a check-up, USA Today reported citing the Bosley Place.

Sweetpea, who was born on July 1, 2023, in Tennessee and raised in Georgia, passed away on November 20, 2023, due to a deformed kidney. Jennifer Siegel, the animal director at Bosley’s Place, confirmed to USA Today.

“Sweetpea lived a charming life,” Siegel said. “She was very loving. Everyone loved Sweetpea. We knew when she came to our rescue, she was going to be a medical nightmare. We made sure she was taken care of well and gave her the best life possible with her short life expectancy.”

According to USA Today, Sweetpea was born with hydrocephalus, a neurological disorder caused by a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain’s cavities.

She also had a hole in her heart, Siegel said.

“She arrived to our rescue on her deathbed,” Siegel said.

“I started doing medical diagnostics and testing. When she was about four weeks old, it was limited what we were able to do when she was that tiny, so as she grew, we did more and more ultrasounds, and echocardiograms, she also did a couple of hospital stays through the ER due to blue baby syndrome’s, when I tried to wean her off the bottle.”