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Did Turbulent Flight Kill Billy Mays?

By Jane Akre

Preceeded His Death 

LEARN MORE InjuryBoard Help Center - Head and Brain Injuries  InjuryBoard- Help Center - Ski Resort Liability  Huffington Post story on brain trauma  InjuryBoard  - St. Cloud, MN - on Potential Head Injury   IMAGE SOURCE:  CBS News Web site/ Billy Mays

You know him from his bombastic television ads for OxiClean and Orange Glo.

Pitchman, Billy Mays, 50, was found dead in his Tampa home early Sunday. Mays was on US Airways flight 1241 from Philadelphia, returning to Tampa around 3 p.m., when the plane made an emergency landing after two of the plane's front tires blew out.

Mays told his wife he hit his head on the cabin ceiling and that he didn't feel good. 

Mays told Fox 13 in Tampa about the bumpy landing in his last tv interview.

"All of a sudden as we hit, you know, it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping," Mays told Fox 13 in Tampa. "It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head" reports the New York Daily News. 

The interview has already made it to YouTube. 

His wife was unable to revive him around 7:45 Sunday morning.  Police report there were no signs of foul play. 

An airline spokeswoman said no one reported any injuries.  Whether that led to his death is unknown at this time.  An autopsy will be performed this week.

Mays was reported to be in good health other than a scheduled hip replacement surgery. 

Reminiscent of Natasha Richardson

His death is eerily reminiscent of English actress Natasha Richardson, who died of traumatic head injury while skiing in Canada on March 18, 2009.

After a minor fall she got up laughing and returned to her hotel room, but soon complained of a serious headache. Eventually she was flown to a New York hospital, but it was too late. Bleeding around the skull eventually led to brain death.

More Common Than You Think

In the U.S. roughly 1.5 to 2 million people incur traumatic brain injury, TBI, primarily in vehicle accidents, falls, acts of violence and sports accidents.  

It is the number one cause of death and disability among children and young adults, according to the Brain Injury Resource Foundation (BIRF), a resource on brain injuries for survivors. 

The human body and head are designed to withstand collisions no more than about 15 mph.  Unfortunately in a collision the brain moves inside the skull causing swelling or bruising, called a concussion. 

The worst outcome is a brain-bleed, which is life threatening.  Brain swelling may not be felt immediately, leaving the injured with an impression they are fine.    

Concussions can occur in a series, the first one making a second concussion more likely.  Later concussions may become more life threatening, though no one knows whether Richardson or Mays had suffered any earlier head injuries. 

Being on the blood thinner, Coumadin, makes a brain-bleed more likely.   

Receiving an MRI after a head injury will let doctors know if there is TBI.

More people are surviving TBI due to faster emergency care, but unfortunately many people do not realize they need that care until it is too late.     # 

Originally posted at Jane Akre

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on June 29, 2009 (boomark / email).