Natasha Richardson heiladauð segja ættingjar fjölmiðlum

As Natasha Richardson remained in a New York hospital, her family and friends had all but given up hope that she'll recover from a severe head injury.

"There is no chance," a family friend told PEOPLE on Tuesday night. "It is a fact that her heart is beating but she is brain dead."

Her dire condition – doctors described it to those close to Richardson as "leakage of blood between the brain and skull," the friend says – has the actress's family coming to grips with potentially having to make an unthinkably difficult decision. "It's not official yet," says the friend, "but they basically will detach her."

Richardson, 45, the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave, suffered a devastating head injury Monday while skiing on a beginner's slope outside Montreal during a trip with at least one of her two sons. Her husband, Liam Neeson, 56, raced from a Toronto movie set to be with her as she was hospitalized.

On Tuesday, a private jet brought them both to New York, where family and friends gathered for a vigil. Reps for the family have declined to comment on Richardson's medical condition.

Source: People

 

Details about Natasha Richardsons accident

Actress Natasha Richardson, reportedly in serious condition with head trauma in a Montréal hospital after a ski accident Monday at Mont Tremblant, was walking around and feeling fine for an hour after her accident, a spokesperson from the ski resort says.

"She was laughing and joking and she walked to her room on her own," Mont Tremblant spokesperson Catherine Lacasse says.

The British-born Richardson, 45, was not wearing a ski helmet when she was taking a private ski lesson on the Nansen, a beginners' run at Mont Tremblant. When she was near the bottom of the run in a section know as the flats, she fell down. According to the spokeswoman, Richardson did not hit anyone or anything before coming to a stop.

"She was accompanied by an experienced ski instructor who immediately called the ski patrol," according to a statement from the resort.

Lacasse tells PEOPLE that there were no cuts, bleeding or other external signs of injury. Ski patrollers assisted Richardson and helped her to her room. She was not put on a stretcher.

About an hour after the fall, Richardson started complaining of headaches. She went to a nearby hospital and was later transferred to the Intensive Care Unit of Sacré Coeur Hospital. (A spokesperson for the hospital would not confirm or deny that Richardson was a patient there.)

According to AccessHollywoood.com, her husband, actor Liam Neeson, 56, was filming the movie Chloe in Toronto when he got the news and rushed to be by Richardson's side.

Richardson, who appeared in The Parent Trap, Maid in Manhattan and Nell has been married to Neeson since 1994. They have two sons, Micheal Richard Antonio, 13, and Daniel Jack, 12.

Source: People