The friends and family of Anne Heche have been left with the difficult decision to take the Emmy-winning actress off life support after she was pronounced dead.
Heche has been in a coma and has not regained consciousness since a car crash on Friday, August 5. She is currently being kept on a ventilator to determine whether any of her organs can be donated. According to a rep for Heche’s family and friends (via Deadline), Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury in the crash.
“We want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers for Anne’s recovery and thank the dedicated staff and wonderful nurses that cared for Anne at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills hospital,” said the rep. “Unfortunately, due to her accident, Anne Heche suffered a severe anoxic brain injury and remains in a coma, in critical condition. She is not expected to survive.”
The statement continued, “It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable. Anne had a huge heart and touched everyone she met with her generous spirit. More than her extraordinary talent, she saw spreading kindness and joy as her life’s work — especially moving the needle for acceptance of who you love. She will be remembered for her courageous honesty and dearly missed for her light.”
Heche crashed her car in Los Angeles, California, last Friday. According to TMZ, the Another World alum first crashed into an apartment complex’s garage before speeding off and then crashing again, this time into a house, where a fire started. It took 59 firefighters to battle the blaze, which had engulfed both Heche’s car and the house it crashed into; Heche was eventually removed from the vehicle after 65 minutes.
According to Deadline, Heche will get an Honor Walk, a hero’s goodbye donor patients receive by hospital staff as they are transported into the operating room in their final journey.
