The news about Natasha Richardson is either bad or absolutely terrible

The Associated Press is reporting that actress Natasha Richardson, the wife of actor Liam Neeson, was critically injured in a Canadian skiing accident and is on her way by airplane to a destination in the United States that has yet to be announced.

However, there are other reports, mostly coming from family members, who have said they have been given "the bad news" by doctors that Ms. Richardson is brain dead and is being flown to her New York home where she will be taken off life support and "allowed to die." According to the New York Post: "Actress Natasha Richardson is brain dead, after falling in a ski accident in Canada, friends told The Post today."

I have been trying to piece together the entire series of events and it all seems strange. She apparently suffered the injury yesterday during a private lesson on a beginner's trail at the Mont Tremblant ski resort, 80 miles northwest of Montreal. She did not display any signs of distress immediately after the fall, according to reports, and returned to her hotel room. An hour later, she complained of a headache and the hotel sent her to the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe from where she was transferred to the Hospital du Sacre-Coeur in Montreal. It was that hospital that put her on the private jet, reportedly to New York.

I have always had, as one of my life's philosophies, that I never want to participate in any activity where there's an ambulance waiting for me at the end of it. Thus, snow skiing was out of the question. But lately My Hero has slowly, steadily got me interested in at least trying something, say, on a beginner's course. This tragedy, however, sets that possibility back light years.

UPDATE: Irishcentral.com is reporting that Ms. Richardson is being flown to a hospital in New York, not her home, although it is also saying she is "fighting for her life." The Web site also had the following statement from the hotel where the 45-year-old actress was staying:

"Ms Richardson fell during a ski lesson but she didn't show any signs of injury. The ski patrol looked at her and reported that she was laughing and joking. They told her to see someone but she insisted that she was fine and just wanted to go back to her room. The instructor and two members of the patrol accompanied her to her hotel room. She refused to see anyone and signed a paper saying she didn't want to see a doctor. After an hour or so she said she had a headache, then they called 911. She was not wearing a helmet. The law in Quebec does not require it but we always suggest it but cannot impose it."