Actor Jeff Conaway Dies After Being Placed In A Coma

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Posted on 30th May 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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 Actor Jeff Conaway’s tragic life came to an end Friday, when he died after being taken off life support at Encino Hospital Medical Center. He was 60, and will probably now best be remembered for his appearances on “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew,” which obviously didn’t succeed in rehabilitating him. 

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jeff-conaway-20110528,0,3260841,full.story

Last week doctors had essentially determined that Conaway, who has had problems with drugs for years, was brain dead. He was admitted to the hospital May 10, unconscious and with pneumonia, after ingesting a bad combination of prescribed drugs. He was placed in a medically induced coma at the hospital.

Conaway was a handsome blond who came to fame and fortune playing in the late 1970s and early 1980s as a not-too-bright struggling actor in the hit show “Taxi,” and performing in both the Broadway and film versions of “Grease.”

But he was not happy with his success. He broke his “Taxi” contract because he didn’t like playing “a blond bimbo,” according to The Los Angeles Times. And the lead role that he played in Broadway in “Grease,” Danny Zuko, was cast with John Travolta. Conaway got a lesser part.

Conaway complained of being depressed during his stint on “Taxi,” and said he started using drugs at age 15, when he was in a band.

In recent years the actor rose to prominence, or notoriety, when he was one of the celebrities on Dr. Drew’s show in 2008. According to the Times, “He was so intoxicated the morning he checked in that subtitles were required to translate his slurred speech.”

Conaway, looking like a train wreck, had become addicted to cocaine and pain medications after back surgery. He later claimed that he had essentially hammed it during his tantrums and arguments on “Celebrity Rehab,” but just looking at him told you he was in big trouble.

And so he was.

   

  

Conaway

Actor Jeff Conaway Is In A Coma After Drug Overdose

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Posted on 19th May 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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If this isn’t a cautionary tale, I don’t know what is. 

Jeff Conaway, a once-handsome actor who made his name in the sitcom “Taxi” and most recently was a train wreck on “Celebrity Rehab,” is in a coma after an apparent drug overdose. He has struggled with addiction for years.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/gossip/2011/05/jeff-conaway-overdose-coma-hospitalized-taxi-celebrity-rehab-with-dr-drew.html

He went into a coma Wednesday and was hospitalized at Encino Hospital Medical Center.

Conaway, with his blond good looks, built a career playing not-too-bright leading men. In addition to “Taxi,” he portrayed Danny Zuko on “Grease” on Broadway, a role that John Travolta landed in the film. Conaway was in the movie, but played another role.

On Dr. Drew Pinsky’s “Celebrity Rehab,”  60-year-old Conaway provided a lot of drama as he struggled with withdrawal and fought with his fellow celebs. He had become addicted to cocaine and pain pills when he had back surgery.

The actor later claimed that he had acted ornery and created a lot of unpleasant scenes on “Celebrity Rehab” because that’s what the show’s producers wanted. That actually shouldn’t be much of surprise: Reality TV shows are anything but real.

Conaway has obviously battled a lot of demons in his life. Let’s hope he survives his most recent relapse.

     

Sex And Coffee, And Constipation, May Trigger Brain Hemorrhages

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Posted on 15th May 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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If you like sex and coffee, you may be at greater risk for a brain hemorrhage, according to a study published earlier this month by the journal Stroke.

http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/STROKEAHA.110.606558v1

The Netherlands study sought to find out what triggers the rupture of brain aneurysms, which result in hemorrhagic strokes. An aneurysm, as The Los Angeles Times explained, is a weak point in one of the brain’s blood vessels. Those can burst due to stress, causing internal bleeding. But researchers wanted to find out what kind of stresses prompt such hemorrhaging.  

 http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/05/news/la-heb-brain-aneurysm-20110505

To try to identify specifically what causes these ruptures, during a three-year period the study had 250 people who had suffered subarachnoid hemorrhages complete a questionnaire on 30 “potential trigger factors” during the period before the person had his or her hemorrhage. 

The study ultimately identified eight triggers: coffee consumption; cola consumption; anger; being startled; “straining for defecation”; sexual intercourse; nose blowing; and vigorous physical exercise.

 The highest population-attributable risks were found for coffee consumption (10.6 percent) and vigorous physical exercise (7.9 percent).

The study’s conclusion?

“We identified and quantified eight trigger factors for aneurysmal rupture,” it said. “All triggers induce a sudden and short increase in blood pressure, which seems a possible common cause for aneurysmal rupture. Some triggers are modifiable, and further studies should assess whether reduction of exposure to these factors or measures preventing sudden increase in blood pressure decrease the risk of rupture in patients known to have an intracranial aneurysm.”

 

Golfer Seve Ballesteros Dies Of Brain Cancer

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Posted on 14th May 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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A week ago champion golfer Seve Ballesteros, known for his “swashbuckling” style and for winning five major titles in his sport, died of complications of brain cancer. He was only 54.   

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-seve-ballesteros-20110508,0,477261.story

His unfortunate death is worth noting, in that it demonstrates the difficulty of beating brain cancer, which appears to be a particularly resilient strain of this disease.  

Ballesteros died in the Spanish fishing town where he was born, Pedrena.

His cancer was discovered after he became dizzy, and then unconscious for a short period, while in a Madrid airport in October 2008.  Ballesteros had four operations to cut out his malignant brain tumor.

 He was handsome, and had a dramatic career, even if it was brief. He stunned when, at age 22, he won the 1979 British Open. He did it “with a birdie he crafted on No. 16 despite teeing off into a temporary parking lot, where the ball landed 2 feet from a car,” according to The Los Angeles Times.

 RIP Seve.

Deceased Singer Phoebe Snow’s Two Battles With Brain Injury

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Posted on 1st May 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Singer Phoebe Snow, a New Jersey native who was a one-hit wonder with her song “Poetry Man,” had to deal with two brain-damage tragedies during her life. And both probably contributed to her death last week at age 60. 

 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/arts/music/phoebe-snow-bluesy-singer-songwriter-dies-at-58.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=phoebe%20snow&st=cse

Her death in Edison, N.J., was caused by complications of what some called a stroke, and others called a cerebral hemorrhage, back in January 2010.

But Snow had to deal with brain-related illness long before her own medical problems. She gave birth to a daughter in 1975 who suffered from what one media report called severe brain damage, namely hydrocephalus.

Snow spent much of her life caring for her daughter, Valerie, after she sought — in vain — to find help for her.

“I went through phases of the occult and of trying to find every single doctor in the country who could possibly do something,”  Snow once said, according to The New York Times obituary of her. “I realize now that I can’t move mountains.”

Surely, Snow’s remark must strike a cord with other parents who have a child with any kind of brain injury. 

Snow wouldn’t lock her daughter, who wasn’t expected to have a long life span, away in an institution. But Valerie did live quite awhile, to age 31, dying in 2007.

Shock jock Howard Stern, in a unusually tender moment, last week dedicated his show to his memories of Snow, according to David Hinckley, who does a radio column in The New York Daily News.  

Stern speculated that Snow “died of a broken heart” — in that she was devastated by the death of her daughter. Stern said Valerie had become the “passion” in Snow’s life, who basically put her career on the back burner to take care of her child, according to Hinkley.

It’s a sad irony that Snow, like her daughter, was ultimately killed by a brain injury, just like her daughter.