Natasha Richardson has died.

[FAQinglovely]

• just saw a breaking news flash up on the BBC website

Just heard this on the news.
So very sad, and so frightening that something so simple could do so much damage.

BetaDad - sounds terrifying, really glad you DW was alright in the end.

How sad

It is blimmin' scary isn't it?
Dd just accidentally ran into my arm and banged her head and I was "aaaaaargh! don't do that!" (newly-paranoid-mummy-emoticon)

How awful
You really feel for them.
Those poor boys - so young to lose their mum.
Keep thinking of Liam Neeson in "Love Actually" when he plays someone who has lost his wife.
They have appealed for privacy - hope they get it.

I think they will be allowed privacy- they're hardly likely to be selling the rights to the funeral to any redtop.

so shocking and she was so young

Totally shocked, her fall seemed so minor. I met her and Liam last year with my 2 eldest dc's at a film premier, lovely couple. Had plenty of time to chat to people.

RIP

So sad for all the family, such a tragic waste. Reinforces the importance of proper head protection.

Very sad.

My stupid DH still refuses to wear a helmet when he skis even off piste and hurtling down blacks. Even last night he said that helmets don't usually help/make a difference and he won't be wearing one.

So sad and so typically female. I would have done the same in her situation, not wanting to make a fuss. The awful thing is had she got immediate medical treatment she may well have survived. Also how terrible for her poor sons to have witnessed the accident that ultimately killed their mother.

'The awful thing is had she got immediate medical treatment she may well have survived.'

Or not. She went into hospital an hour later after feeling ill. Even if she'd gone to hospital as she didn't feel ill, didn't lose consciousness, etc. it's likely she'd have waited an hour for any type of scan, anyhow, and the result would have been the same.

She felt fine, she didn't lose consciousness, she didn't cut her head.

I've done the same myself a few times and been fine.

My ex h fell and hit his head and fractured his skull, a serious injury the eventually got him 3 days in ICU, and didn't loose consciousness. The only reason he went straight to hospital is that he cut his head quite badly and bled profusely and someone phoned an ambulance.

I agree with your husband, Stripey, especially if he's skiing at that level. It's ultimately his choice but he has a point. Most people who get seriously injured or killed skiing are a) struck by someone else b) hit a tree and the predominant injuries are from abdominal trauma c) off-piste/out-of-bounds and trigger an avalanche.

Very sad news. Before my DH and I met he had a fall from his bike and hit his head. He felt okay but decided to take a taxi to the hospital to get checked over. He spent the next few hours in a coma, fortunately making a full recovery. Bike helmets are compulsory in our household. It doesn't take much to cause a brain bleed, they're not joking when they tell you to get immediate medical attention if you get a headache or feel sick after a blow to the head.

Horrendous. Terribly sad. We believed my DD1 was dead after an accident two years ago and although she revived and recovered fully DH and I had a glimpse of the abyss of bleakness her family will now have to navigate. The shock of a sudden accidental death of someone so healthy and lively will be so so tough for those poor people. I hope the love they have for her and hers for them will sustain them even though she's gone.

A similar thing happened to a friend of ours. He was up in the loft putting away some toys when he bumped his head on one of the beams. Felt a bit sick and had a thumping headache so took himself off to bed. Never woke up and was dead 2 days later.

I too keep thinking of Liam Neeson in Love Actually. That scene at the funeral with his little boy.

on a slightly different note - a friend of a friend fell off a trampoline, had a bad landing but in a flowerbed - passed out for a few secs then got up and wanted to carry on partying. Friend insisted on taking him to A&E - lucky she did as he'd fractured his neck.

You can't be too careful with heads and necks and falls, imo.

These stories of people bumping heads are absolutley salutory. I well remember a local farmer who came to our farm every year when I was a child to help out my Dad and drive the combine harvester. He was stood on a trailer (about 1.25 metres up) one day and slipped off. Banged his head on a patch of soft earth and grass. Died a week later.

He had a mentally ill son and his wife was left to run his farm at the worst time of year and the bank called in the overdraft and bankrupted them.

Life is so horribly fragile.

Exactly, ABeta. This poor lady! Regardless of how she met her end, she did, in a sudden and very tragic way.

She left behind a husband, two young sons, a sister, a mother.

Oh, her poor mother, too! My mother is just a few years younger than her mother, and sadly, some of her friends' daughters have already passed away (well, two, from cancer) Their mothers' grief knows no bounds. It is a terrible, awful thing to lose your child no matter what their age.

Surely it's not the time to be speculating on any mistake she could possibly have made that contributed to her demise, which from what I can see are none.

My grandmother was almost 90 when she died and she went to her death still grieving for the infant she had lost 65yrs earlier. I talked to her about it once and she cried warm tears as if it was still so raw.

It's irrelevant whether she was wearing a helmet or whether she was should have been more cautious after the fall. What's relevant is that 2 boys have lost their mother, a man has lost his wife and a mother her child. It happens every day throughout the world and it is always a tragedy whatever the circumstances.

How very sad

It is so sad. I feel so sad for her boys.

ABetaDad - so glad that your story had a happy outcome.

FiveGoMad - what hosp in Dublin?

There are pictures of her husband and mother on the front of some of the papers today, with healdines saying "Liam Neeson looks like a broken man". Well what do they expect him to look like?

I find it disgusting how they snap photos of people who have just suffered the greatest loss of their lives. I really, really hope no one is low enough to take pictures of their sons.

Of course, poor William and Harry had to face their mother's funeral in front of the world.