Following the tragic news of Natasha Richardson's death, her family has decided to turn their tragedy into someone else's joy by donating her organs to waiting transplant patients.
Richardson was left brain-dead after she took a fall while skiing last week, but her organs were perfectly healthy. After she was taken off life support at Manhattan's Lenox Hill Hospital, her husband, Liam Neeson, her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, and other members of the family requested that her organs be donated to other patients whose lives they might save. "Doctors spent six hours harvesting all her organs," a source told the New York Post.
Organ donation "is very Natasha," a family friend said in the latest issue of People. "She spent so much time fighting the stigma of AIDS; someone like that would naturally donate her organs. At least by donating her organs something good could come out of [the tragedy]."
In the days following Natasha’s death, her husband and the couple's sons Micheal, 13, and Daniel, 12, have shown remarkable public poise in dealing with the tragedy. "It takes a while to absorb this," but "with good friends by their side, they will get through the tough days ahead," says family friend Blaine Trump.
