India, Feb. 22 -- Rondale Moore, the NFL wide receiver who died at 25 in a suspected self-inflicted gunshot incident, survived a fragile start to life after being born premature with underdeveloped lungs.

Moore was born five weeks early on June 9, 2000. He was placed in intensive care and fed through a nasal tube. Doctors could not assure his mother that he would survive, according to a feature published by the National Football League.

"They couldn't say for sure if he would live," his mother, Quincy Ricketts said in the report. "But he was a fighter."

He remained in intensive care for five weeks before he was strong enough to go home. Family members described him as tiny and fragile. He was the youngest of Ricketts' four children.

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