Natasha Richardson’s Death Offers Life-Saving Lesson For Family

Natasha Richardson’s death from a head injury was unquestionably tragic, but out of this horrible story was a lesson – one that saved the life of a 7-year-old girl.

Shortly before Richardson’s untimely death last week, Ohio resident Donald McCracken hit a baseball in a line drive, and it accidentally hit his 7-year-old daughter, Morgan, in the head.

Donald and his wife, Connie, iced Morgan’s head, which had developed a welt, and the swelling went down and the days started to pass. Two days after the incident though, the night the family learned of Richardson’s untimely death, their daughter started complaining of a severe headache, and with Richardson in mind, they immediately took Morgan to the local hospital.

At LakeWest Hospital, in Willoughby, doctors performed a CT scan as the young girl’s headache grew worse. And as it turned out, Morgan’s condition was so severe, she was airlifted by helicopter to Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.

There, Dr. Alan Cohen told the family that Morgan had the same diagnosis given to Richardson — an epidural hematoma.

“Our job [was] to get to the emergency room and to get this blood clot out of her head as soon as possible,” Dr. Cohen told Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush. “This is a life threatening emergency when it happens.”

When asked if he thought of Richardson as an angel looking down on his daughter, who is now recovering from a life-saving surgery, Donald said he absolutely considers the late actress a lifesaver.

“It’s funny that you call her an angel,” Donald told Billy. “We have a great friend who… felt that that was the angel saving Morgan —  the very next day after [Natasha] passed away. She felt Natasha was that angel that had Morgan tell us that she had a headache.”

Though Morgan now has stitches across the top of her head, she is still a plucky, bright young girl, optimistic about life. But, baseball isn’t her favorite sport.

“Swimming!” Morgan told Billy of her new favorite athletic activity.

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