Natasha Richardson's injury is strange.

[Shell Beau]

Scary. I hope she recovers.



NEW YORK (AP) -- Members of Natasha Richardson's family were seen gathering at a New York hospital believed to be treating the Tony-winning actress for a reportedly serious head injury sustained on a Canadian ski slope.

Richardson, 45, part of the Redgrave dynasty of British actors and the wife of Liam Neeson, was flown from Montreal to New York on Tuesday after the accident, a person close to the family, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Richardson's condition was very serious and her family was highly distressed, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing two people close to her family who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

A reporter from the Toronto Star earlier reported seeing a distraught Neeson crouched inside the back of an ambulance at Montreal's Sacre-Coeur hospital as Richardson, wrapped in blankets and with tubes covering her face, was loaded inside. Neeson had immediately left the Toronto set of his upcoming movie, "Chloe," to be by her side in Montreal, a publicist for the film said.

Later that evening, a somber looking Vanessa Redgrave, Richardson's mother, was seen in photographs walking into Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. It couldn't be immediately determined whether Richardson was a patient at the hospital.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=357500>1=28101

[BeachBaby]

1. Um....

she was reported as being brain-dead. I saw it on the news this morning.

[Shell Beau]

2. Brain dead? I didn't see that. I saw this on GMA.

I didn't think her condition was being released. I hope she isn't brain-dead. That is freaky.

[BeachBaby]

4. Yeah, it was announced on both Fox and NBC this morning.

They cited a "family source".

[TZ]

5. No its not as freaky as it sounds.

If I'm hearing the reports right..she took a hard blow to the head..which probably started her bleeding into her brain...which since she refused medical treatment right away resulted in brain damage. I have heard of this..You hit your head and think you only have a headache but later on you hemorrage and likely die...this is why head injuries should ALWAYS be treated/examined right away.

[Shell Beau]

8. I agree. But it is freaky because it didn't seem like a big deal when

she fell.

[TZ]

10. Thats the case alot.

People hit their head, think everything is okay..turn up with a bad headache and boom..I know a DOCTOR who actually died this way...after he started getting the bad headache he knew exactly what was happening..:scared:

[Shell Beau]

11. So scary. The brain is a strange thing.

[Mollis]

13. I saw it say brain dead on GMA. Scrolling along the bottom.

It might have been later then when you were watching. It said her family was saying goodbye.
Very sad :(

[Lars39]

3. Has the family issued an official statement yet?

[BeachBaby]

6. According to NBC.....

the family is releasing a statement this afternoon.

[LostinVA]

17. No

[LostinVA]

16. That is unconfirmed by family and doctors

[skygazer]

7. Head injuries can be so deceptive

It's so sad - I've fallen off horses, crashed on skis, all kinds of things and never had any problems but a person can hit it just right and it can kill you. I still hope the reports are exagerrated but I'm really afraid they're not. :(

[Arugula Latte]

9. It's weird because it didn't seem like much at the time.

She was up and walking around, etc. Then ... bam.

I know someone who fell off her bike and tweaked her neck a bit. A few days later she had a major stroke.

Life is so scary sometimes. :scared:

[Flaxbee]

12. I know, I was thinking of all the times I got bucked off a horse,

fell while skiing or ice skating, hell, I've fallen down the stairs a couple of times... and all I got were a few bruises.

Natasha Richardson was on the beginner's slopes, at the bottom of the run, apparently. I wonder what happened that caused her to hit her head with such force? Or the angle that turned a head-bump into something so tragic.

It is so sad. Your life can end from so many things, but to just be goofing around on the beginner's slope and do what hundreds of skiers do every day - simple fall - and that's it.

[AngryAmish]

15. Her individual anatomy may have contributed

If there is very little space between her skull and her brain then the blow may be more serious to her then to others. If she was a smoker then that contributes to hardening of the arteries, which plays a facotr in shearing injuries.

There is very little info. We don't know if this was an inffarction (blod clot inside artery in the brain like a heart attack, which can kill you if in the brain stem or other important part), sub or epidural hematoma, brain bruising with bleeding insode the skull and other stuff I can't remember.

Weird case, tho.

[Mollis]

14. They are definitely deceptive.

I had a good friend in a car accident. Right after it happened the people that saw it went over and were with him until the ambulance came. He was talking, a bit confused, but conscious. He was later declared brain dead and was taken off life support.
This is so sad for Natasha's family :(

[Hassin Bin Sober]

18. That happened to a friend of mine but it was his aorta that ruptured in a car accident.

Walking around and then BOOM.

[Blue Diadem]

20. Same with a neighbor that fell.

I heard his 4-5 ft tall scaffolding fall and ran out and found him unconscious. He immediately woke up and his speech was garbled but within just a minute or two his speech cleared. By the time his wife got home and the rescue squad got there, he was talking normal, and wanted to get up and move around, which we didn't allow. He crashed in the squad shortly after they left, was in a coma for a week and died.

His wife told me later that she had no idea how badly injured he was. I knew it was serious but never expected him to die.

[WildEyedLiberal]

19. I know there are conflicting reports but I really hope she will be okay

I have always liked her and Liam Neeson. It's so refreshing to see a real, genuine couple in Hollywood. No one deserves a tragedy like this, but when it's someone who just seems like a fundamentally good person, it just seems that much more cruel.

[northernlights]

21. the reports are getting pretty consistant

brain dead and taken off life support earlier today.

Not strange, although she didn't fall hard, landed on soft, wet snow and seemed fine at first. There could have been a pre-existing condition that set off a brain bleed, such as an aneurism. One physician wrote into one of the reports saying possibly an epidural hematoma -- artery bleed out into the brain that requires surgery. You start out lucid, but if its not caught very quickly, you go down fast.

[Shell Beau]

22. What a shame. I wonder when they will release a statement.

[tigereye]

23. so she isn't dead? That's good - there was a thread last night that said that

she was.

This whole thing is bizarre with all the conflicting reports. I feel bad for her family.

[Shell Beau]

24. I don't think there is any confirmation either way.

I hope she isn't.

[tigereye]

25. me too - all the speculation about this is so strange

the media just loves medical disasters...

[mvd]

26. I don't think it's looking good, but until we have real..

confirmation, we can hope for a miracle. She's a great actress and nice person.

[tigereye]

28. hey, there!

How are ya? :pals:

[WinkyDink]

27. Not strange at all. Her head hit the ground from 5'9" high.

[LaurenG]

29. She has died

Actress Natasha Richardson has died
Husband Liam Neeson, sons ‘shocked and devastated’ by loss

BREAKING NEWS
updated 6 minutes ago

MONTREAL - A spokesman for the family of Natasha Richardson says the actress has died.

Richardson, a gifted and precocious heiress to acting royalty whose career highlights included the film “Patty Hearst” and a Tony-winning performance in a stage revival of “Cabaret,” died after suffering an apparent head injury from a skiing accident. She was 45.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29733775/

[Shell Beau]

32. How devastating.

[nickinSTL]

Actress Richardson dies aged 45

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7949195.stm

British actress Natasha Richardson has died from injuries sustained in a skiing accident, her husband Liam Neeson's publicist has said.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

31. Unbelievably sad

:cry:

Can't even begin to imagine what her family must be going through. My deepest and sincerest thoughts, prayers, condolences and sympathies are with them. This is just so devastating

[nickinSTL]

34. yes. It is. such an apparently freak occurrence...

hard to say for certain, considering the lack of details (which I totally understand, and don't think the family needs to release if they don't want to)

She seemed ok for a while afterwards - I just hope she was still conscious by the time her husband got to her bedside - I'd think that would be better than not getting to speak to her before the end.

I suspect she wouldn't have been able to communicate by the time any other family members got there...based on what has been released regarding the timeline.

[XemaSab]

30. It's not that strange

Virtually the same thing happened to my uncle, but (after brain surgery and a 2-month coma) he lived and made a full recovery. :shrug:

[Shell Beau]

35. What I really meant was the whole situation was strange.

And freaky. I am so sad for her family. You really never know. We should all try to live each day to the fullest. Sounds like she was too.

[FarLeftRage]

33. She has passed away...

N/T :cry:

[Shell Beau]

36. Terrible. She has 2 young boys too.

:cry:

[FarLeftRage]

37. Yes and that is so sad...

The youngsters growing up w/o their mother... :(

[Avalux]

38. Richardson suffered a closed head injury.

The impact of her fall caused her brain to violently bounce around in her skull (the skull doesn't give) which resulted in swelling and hemorrhaging; by the time they figured out what was going on and drilled a hole to drain and relieve the swelling it was too late; too much damage had occurred.

So very sad. Now I hear she has passed away. :-(

[Lil Missy]

39. She died? Oh, how devastating.

:(

[Critters2]

40. Sadly, she has died.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-natasha-richardson19-2009mar19,0,7226403.story

[SPKrazy]

41. RIP NATASHA! and Prayers for Liam and The Redgrave Dynasty

:(