Strangest Injury Ever
You know that I don't really like to write about injuries or people dying or anything like that for the most part. So, when I scanned the Natasha Richardson headlines I said to myself that it is tragic and I wish her the best, but I don't really want to write about it because there is nothing to say. It is a news story, and there are people who report the news much better than I can.
Then, I read the latest update on the story and in my mind it might have nothing to do with skiing at all. According to a spokesperson at the resort where the injury happened, Natasha was taking a lesson and was at the bottom of a beginner hill, fell down, and rolled over a few times. She didn't hit anything, and didn't have any visible injuries. When I first read the headlines I thought it must have been like a Sonny Bono incident where she ran into a tree while skiing very fast.
She didn't do anything different than a million people do every day while skiing. From the sound of the statement, it sounds like she didn't even want to go see a doctor, but the ski patrol insisted. That's why I think it might have been a concussion, but she didn't have visible injuries. Maybe just from a sudden jerk of the head or something when she fell?
She saw the doctor back at her hotel. She didn't start feeling bad until about an hour later. Now she is in critical condition? It is the strangest injury ever. I know there are lots of nurses and doctors who read the site, so explain please how this happens, and of course all my best wishes go to Natasha and Liam and their two sons.
I just read that she's actually died.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how reliable that is since it's coming from perez and Time Out New York...
but i sincerely hope it's not true.
Perez Hilton is reporting she died. I hope not.
ReplyDeleteIt is an odd injury and I really hope the worst isn't true and she recovers.
this makes me so sad - I love her and her family.
ReplyDeleteI'm neither a doctor nor a nurse, but a slight bump on the head can very easily turn into a hemorrhage. Happens all the time.
ReplyDeleteBrain injuries and bleeding in the head are always very serious, because there is nowhere inside the skull for the blood to go, and if the brain swells at all, it is always very critical.
Someone on Dlisted is quoting a hospital source that claims she was taken home to die...let's all pray that's NOT true. She and Liam are probably my favorite celebrity couple.
Perez is an idiot. His source first changed their story to say she's brain dead, then pulled the article all together.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/17/natasha-richardson-brain_n_175764.html
ReplyDeleteThe Huffington Post has picked up T.O.N.Y.'s post--claims she is now brain dead.
God, I hope they are wrong. She has two sons with Liam. This is too sad.
I don't know anything about brain injuries. I do know someone that was in a bad car accident and seemed fine so the paramedics were tending to the victims that seemed in worse shape. He went and sat down under a tree and died.
ReplyDeleteAnd Liam is Irish. A sad coincidence for St. Patrick's day.
ReplyDeleteI think Perez Hilton is just posting that in CASE she dies so that he can say he reported it first. If not, he can just say "oops!"
ReplyDeleteIf so, that's really fucking sick.
I sure hope she's okay.
TMZ is reporting she is being flown to a new hospital - possibly in New York.
ReplyDeleteThe jolt to the head in a fall could have cause the rupture of an aneurysm. A small one that slowly bled in the cranial cavity, being symptomatic only hours later.
ReplyDeleteOr a head bump causing internal bleeding, with all the worry she must have lost conciseness for at least a couple of seconds. Sometimes the bleeding is so slow that people die days after bumping their head and loosing consciousness.
She died ... omg ... so heartbreaking. She was so beautiful and talented.
ReplyDeleteIf TONY pulled their page, it's possible that they never intended it to go up in the first place. It's pretty common for news sources to prepare for a worst-case scenario in a celeb's demise, so they can quickly report it.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, I do hope the reports are overblown, and that she recovers. She and her husband are two of the few real, quality actors left in show business.
@figgy
ReplyDeleteIts disgusting, but you're probably right. Condolences to the family. So sudden.
I think she may have had a sub-arachnoid hemorrhage....considering that reports said that she was feeling fine than later on had heinous headaches. She probably ruptured a middle meningeal artery ...which lead the fast onset of symptoms and her having a symptoms later on b/c the increase in intercranial pressure on the brain...fainting, headaches, and since it is not reported she may have some menigitis like symptoms.
ReplyDeleteSub-arachnoid hemotoma from what I am learning in school now is pretty this "walk and die".
That is why the ski resort insisted on that she see a physician b/c of the fact that just you may feel fine doesn't mean you are actually okay.
I'm just a 1st year med student and no expect but this is something that we discussed in my lab two weeks ago...like seriously.
Honestly, if it is a subarachnoid hematoma...it is very fatal.
Yuck, Perez put up the info he got from TONY, and they apologized for the "semantics issue." Who would've thought there was someone slimier than Perez?
ReplyDeleteWhiplash is a sudden jerking of the neck--it can kill young children, aka Shaken Baby Syndrome.
ReplyDeleteWhiplash in adults can cause significant brain injury by swelling, hemorrhage, etc. While it would be unusual, all it would take would be for poor Natasha to have her head jerked the "right" way...happens in car accidents all the time.
I really hope she's okay...I love the whole acting family.
Perez is now reporting that IT IS NOT TRUE. SHE IS NOT DEAD.
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad. I hope she makes a full recovery, but the news appears to be grim.
ReplyDeleteHOW AWFUL...WHEN I READ IT AT FIRST I THOUGHT THE SAME THING EXPERIENCED SKIER ...GOING AT GREAT SPEED...THIS IS JUST SO SAD....I GUESS JUST A TERRIBLE FREAK ACCIDENT...I HOPE SHE MAKES A FULL RECOVERY FAST..PRAYERS TO FAMILY..
ReplyDeleteI am by no means an expert on anything medical, but I have read and heard that a light bump to the head can turn out to be very serious and even fatal. It does happen. I hope she'll be OK though...all the death speculation is just horrible. Think about her family.
ReplyDelete1- perez hilton is an idiot. he's not even funny, i don't understand how he has achieved the level of success and recognition that he has. he just copies michael k at dlisted only he's not as funny.
ReplyDelete2- is anyone familiar with stiv bator's death? he was a singer? was it lords of the new church?? he was hit by a car? he got up and walked home and went to bed and died. you'd think if you got hit by a car and you were alright enough to get up and walk home you'd be in the clear but apparently it wasn't the case for him.
If she really is brain dead, then they are probably just keeping her alive until the family can all get together. It really doesn't sound good. I hope it is just blown all out of proportion and all she has is a concussion.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a doctor, but I have read some recent stories about a condition called "internal decapitation." That can happen from any kind of whip-lash kind of accident, and causes the base of the skull to separate from the spinal column. In one store, the woman recovered, and in the other, I believe the gentleman died. I have no idea if that's what happened here, but what seems like a minor accident can often mask a great injury.
ReplyDeleteDamn, TONY is standing by their story that she's brain dead. So, so sad. She's such a great actress, and worst of all has two young kids.
ReplyDeleteTMZ: "UPDATE 2:00 PM ET -- The hospital tells TMZ Richardson is sedated and suffering from brain swelling -- but is not brain dead. "
ReplyDeletePerez now has the addresses of people at New York Times up on his site so people can email them and blame them for stuff he put on his page. I don't even like his site anymore but go read it when enty stops posting and I'm bored (incredibly enough, I do have a life outside my computer). But I'm done. No more Perezzers for me.
ReplyDelete(Time Out New York, not the New York Times)
ReplyDeleteThis is heartbreaking. Loved her as Sally in Cabaret, and other things she's done. She's too young to die.
ReplyDeleteAs for Perez, it really says something for his site when people just fight to post "first". Yeah, I read it too when I'm bored like Harriet H., but then I'm disgusted with myself, lol.
Momster me three. I've sunk to a new low when I'm bored enough to read Perez.
ReplyDeleteeven just the smallest bump to the head can cause a cerebral hemorage, and symptoms don't start to show up until later. i'm not a doctor, but i'm just going on experience, having watched a very similar thing happen to a family member. after the bump to the head and all the brain surgeries to fix it, he was never the same. i really hope the prognosis is better for Natash Richardson :(
ReplyDeleteI had a cousin who lost a child from a seemingly harmless blow to the head. A neighbor kid threw a board at him when they were playing, he seemed fine, but it caused a slow hemorrhage. They found him on the floor of his bedroom the next morning. Doctors told them that without doing a cat scan, there would have been no way for them to tell until it was too late.
ReplyDeletestop reading Perez, he's not current or relevant, he just pulls shit from the net like everyone else! he has no sources anymore,no one trusts him.
ReplyDeleteafter all the scandals in the past 2 years i can safely say, TMZ should be your resource for celeb up to the minute news. they've proven time and again that they have the sources.
She was the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave, well known antisemite. Karma is a bitch, ain't it?
ReplyDeleteWho ever reads Perez is a fucking idiot PERIOD. He's the most two faced racist on the web.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is why I don't ski.
Sony Bono, that Kennedy dude, and now this. If they're gonna pick a hobby that has this sort of risk associated with it, they may want to rethink.
That's why my hobby is surfing. On the web I mean. Nobody has died from that have they? Crap, I just freaked myself out. What if someone has?!??
Better play it safe and log off.
@ Dead Kennedy: Lord, that is cruel.
ReplyDeleteYa, the first report I heard sounded life-threatening and then I read the same thing as Ent. and figured it wasn't that serious. I know someone who fell at work, cussed out his employer, went to the hospital and fell into a coma. He lived like that for many years.
ReplyDeleteI love Natasha and I hope she pulls through somehow.
Vanessa Redgrave is a ranting anti-semite, but in no way should her
ReplyDeletedaughter & family be punished for her
propaganda.
Enty,
ReplyDeleteI am bucking the trend. I think that she will be fine. You don't need to bump your head for an aneurism to occur. It is a weakening in the vessels that erupts causing severe bleeding. Bleeding that may or may not be controllable. Because she saw a Dr. soon after, it wasn't fatal. Her symptoms that I have read are concurrent with this lne of thinking. It is commmon to put the pt is a coma to reduce to the insult to the brain. I think this is where all of this is coming from.
She is a very strong woman. I think that she will be okay.
fingers crossed
Aw man! There's such a shortage of seemingly normal actors around, I hope she makes it. Why can't this happen to assholes like....well, take your pick!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Vanessa is an anti-Semite? Had no idea. Is she friends with Mel?
I'm a vascular tech. While I'm not a doctor, I would think that she prolly had a pre existing aneurysm which ruptured due to her fall. If she just got a bleed from the fall itself, that would be one shitty card dealt to her but it happens. Freaky accident but the brain is one complicated deal.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal note, my father was in a car accident and sustained a brutal brain injury. He ended up going brain dead several days after the accident. Back then, the protocol was that they shot the dye into the blood stream and scanned it to determine how much if any blood flowed into the brain. They did this at 12 hr intervals. I believe it's the same protocol today but I'm not sure. Even if they have blood flow into the brain, they can tell if it's just the beginning of the end. Sometimes it takes awhile for the doctors to declare someone brain dead officially. I know it took a day and a half for my father to finally be declared when they started to test him.
This might sound strange but if she is indeed going towards that path, I hope her family considers donating her organs. It helps the family cope with the loss of a loved one if they can save someone else from losing one of theirs in the process. My family decided to donate my father's organs. The man that received my dad's heart was very close to death at the time but ended up living an additional 16 yrs due to my dad's heart. He also extended the life of a couple other individuals through his donations but the heart guy always stood out to me. He had a wife, kids and grandkids. We couldn't save our dad but we helped save theirs.
It's a horrible situation for her family. I hope the find the strength to get through all of it--especially her kids. :(
Blah - sorry to hear about your dad, but it's so wonderful he donated his heart to help someone else. My fiance's mom donated her corneas when she died unexpectedly about 5 years ago and was able to help a young man regain his sight, at least partially. I always thought that was so great and it inspired me to become an organ donor when I die, too. (Obviously not my liver though, that's pretty much shot!)
ReplyDeleteSporky, you never heard about her "Zionist Hoodlum" speech?
ReplyDeleteIronic since her daughter is married to the man who portrayed Shindler.
Now the New York Post is also reporting that she is brain dead and is making her sad journey home to New York so friends and family can say their goodbyes before being taken off life support.
ReplyDeleteDead, Lutefisk, Sporky:
ReplyDeleteNatasha's, nor her family's, beliefs are really the issue. She is a mother, wife, sister, daughter in grave condition. Elluding to any morals, even if contraversial, are a low blow I think. Besides, you don't know what type of person she is, seperate from her family.
My own relatives are extremely prejudiced. They make my skin crawl when I hear them talk sometimes, but I would not discount their own human pain if something bad happened to them, nor would I want people to lump ME in with their morals, just because of bloodlines.
Give the woman a break. She needs one right now.
Man, prayers all around for her recovery.
ReplyDeleteI have taken some hellacious snow-skiing and water-skiing falls.
Shit, I even got run over by a motorcycle while riding my ten-speed one time years before bike helmets and I hit the pavement flying head-first and walked away with only a ton of road burn.
Similar "walking afterwards" thing can supposedly happen with drowning--seem fine now but then die hours later.
Life is freaky. Enjoy it while we can. I hope to skid into the grave running late with a drink in one hand and a doob in the other!
OT, but critising the State of Israel does not equal antisemitic. Zionism is still a contentious issue, and people can be pro or anti without being antisemitic.
ReplyDeleteBack to Natasha - the reports are saying that she has been taken to an airport and put on a jet. If she is really badly injured, surely the medical staff would not allow her to be moved?
Hey kimpim, simmer down. All I did was comment that I didn't know she was an anti-Semite, and wondered if she was friends with Mel. Yes, a lame attempt to lighten the mood a bit....but I didn't say one derogatory word about Natasha. In fact, I said a good thing about her. Sheesh!
ReplyDeletekimpim, isn't that what I said?
ReplyDeletePlease don't include me with Dead Kennedy--I was not agreeing on his post.
P.S. lutefisk, no I never heard that....
ReplyDeleteSporky, I will not start a political discussion here. I think what happened to Natasha, or anyone with a similar injury is tragic. I just checked--it is on Wikipedia:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Redgrave
You can view it there.
i love all these "I'm not a doctor..." posts. I keep thinking I'll read a "... but I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night!"
ReplyDeleteThanks lutefisk, I learned that the hard way with the Sarah Palin daughter (whatever her name is) post the other day.
ReplyDeleteI whole-heartedly agree with Jax. Perez is as scummy as they come. He started out trying to "out" the celebrity pigs and slam them for shallowness. He fit right in and is now at home with them. He disgusts me. TMZ is generally the more up-to-date place to go for "breaking" news.
ReplyDeleteSporky, there is always someone who will disagree with what is posted!!
ReplyDeleteHookedOnCDAN, that "internal decapitation" might be what happened to Princess Di too, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteThe weird thing is, I'm a skiier and have been in so many horrific crashes that looked like I would've been hurt (losing hat, goggles, poles, skis, jacket partway off) but stood up, brushed off, skiied on.
Princess Diana had traumatic chest injuries, not brain injuries, that caused her death.
ReplyDeleteI hope Natasha recovers.
Lutefisk: Sorry for the inclusion, I meant to include "Dead".
ReplyDeletelol kimpim! thanks!!
ReplyDeleteHer family will be releasing a statement tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI am a Neurologist in training. Likely an epidural hematoma. Common with blunt head trauma, people typically have a lucid interval where they appear normal, then quickly deterioriate and become unconscious. Typically more serious with high speed injuries that also have other brain damage (for instance motorcycle crash), treatment usually is a quick surgical procedure, younger people usually do really well, but if there was an extended period of time where the brain was swollen without the pressure relieved by surgery, then the damage could be more severe. (it is a collection of blood on top of the surface of the lining of the brain from injury to the vessels, ultimately the collection of blood pushes on the brain, causing a shift of the brain onto the other side, damaging structures.)
ReplyDeleteCan we please stop referring to her in the past tense? Her death has not been confirmed.
ReplyDeleteSounds like she had some kind of aneurysm or maybe a stroke. It certainly wasn't from skiing the bunny slope and hitting a tree. I hope she gets well soon. Freaky thing to happen.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a strange accident at all. This is a typical brain hemorrhage, and her prognosis is typical for someone who suffers such an injury more than an hour from a hospital - e.g. on a ski slope.
ReplyDeleteI pray her neuro surgeon consults this blog.
ReplyDeleteI pray for Omarion.
ReplyDeleteOh wait, this isn't Fark.
Carry on.
Just saw these posts and the news story. So so so sad.
ReplyDeleteI'm agreeing about the epidural hematoma, or possibly a subarachnoid bleed. There are some neurological injuries that take awhile to show.
And I think an important point in this discussion was made by BlahFrickinBlah. There is a certain protocol for declaring brain death, and although it varies a tiny bit from state to state (some states require a bit more stringent testing), the minimum is twelve hours between evaluations. No one would be declared brain dead four hours after an accident.
There are a lot of people who confuse "brain dead" with "going to be a vegetable the rest of her life." The former means no brain activity whatsoever---can't take a breath, can't regulate own temperature, no reaction to hot, cold, etc. THe latter means that the quality of your life will be at the cosmic level of the 99cent thrift store. You'll have a ventilator for your tracheostomy (because you can't maintain your own airway), a feeding tube, and the mental capacity of a 6 month old.
Frankly, for me, I'd rather be pronounced brain dead and be allowed to go to a more peaceful place.
BlahFrickinBlah's other point, about organ transplantation is well taken. About a year ago, I know of a little girl, 6 years old, who got the kidney and pancreas of a teenager. It meant a little girl who was about to die can now go to school, and lead a relatively normal life.
There are also a lot of drug addicts out there who ruin their organs and need transplants, but despite seeing that, I believe the gift of life is the ultimate act of generosity from a family. Talk about karma. That should carry you through five or six more lifetimes.
Sorry this is so long. Just had a lot to say.
Update on TMZ at 10:13 pm ET. Mom Vanessa R is photo'ed arriving at Lenox Hill Hosp in NYC. No further news about N's condition.
ReplyDeleteLocal nightly news was just on. Nothing more to report. They *did* say the hospital refused to give any details, even at one point refusing to confirm she was even there, so I doubt someone said she was taken home to die.
ReplyDeleteI'm a little surprised they wouldn't transfer her to the Royal Vic in Montreal. Excellent hospital, particularly for head trauma. I guess they wanted their own doctors.
On a side note, I'm glad she was treated much better than I was when I fell and smacked my head on the ice. Doctor looked at, and spoke to, me like she really wanted to say, "Why the fuck are you here, wasting my time?" Instead she asked, "Were you worried?" Uhhh ... yeah ...
I really hope she recovers!
ReplyDeletePeople think the bunny slopes are safe, but my first ski-trip was about this time of year, and the learning slopes were basically hard compacted ice by then. That stuff hurts when you fall.
TMZ has further sources saying she's brain dead. :( So freaking sad.
ReplyDeletefirst time my mom went ice skating (w/ myself and friend) she slipped and fell so hard they heard her hit in the office. multiple emergency personnel came and carted her off, and, thank god, she was fine. to this day (um, 60? years later?) has a small bald spot, but she still got back up on skates, and even got my dad to try.
ReplyDeletei don't know a damn thing about what's happened to natasha, because i've been under the weather myself, but the last news soundbite i heard did NOT say she was dead.
dear blah,
i think the technology is a little more advanced, and i'm sorry for what you've been through. although, i could be wrong, since my FIL had been suffering from alzheimer's for several years when he went flat line.
i myself decided to donate my body to science, that way they can use what parts they can, and if not, hopefully find out why someone my age has had to deal with such bad OA. hey, maybe it will help someone somewhere.
shit, 4:20pm weds pacific, new news sound bite: her family having to make an agonzing decision. channel 2, L.A.