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Jay Hickerson with one of the many
tributes he received at the October FOTR show |
Word spread throughout the world of
Friends of Old Time Radio Nov. 7 of the hospitalization of
Jay Hickerson, the man who annually brought together in Newark an international mix of Old Time Radio buffs - and who kept those fans informed throughout the year with his
Hello Again newsletter. The news of Jay's injury came from his wife,
Karen, who wrote to
Martin Grams: "Jay suffered an accident yesterday. We were at a performance at our local college, and, when he was coming back to his seat after the intermission, took a flying (literally) leap into the air and fell down the stairs landing on his head/face. Ambulance took him to the hospital. At first he was lucid. They took a CT scan and saw bleeding on his brain. A short while later, he began acting 'funny,' so they took another and saw more bleeding. He had a seizure when the doctors told me it would be best to stablize him by sedating him and putting him on a ventilator, which he is now still on. Jay is in the ICU unit. This morning, he did respond to some commands, so we know there is still some brain/body connection. More CT scans will be done in intervals to check the progress of the bleeding. People have been known to fully recover from such type head injuries, and I only pray that Jay is one of them. In the meantime, I have no way of letting his newsletter subscribers know that I have no way of knowing when one will go out, or if one will go out. It will have to be a wait and see. Please let me know how I can circulate Jay's condition to anyone who would care to know."
My thoughts go back to the many wonderful years of pleasure Jay and Karen have given to so many of us - and to the sing-along with which he ended the convention this year. Thanks for the memories, Jay! I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places. We'll meet again ...
Update Nov. 8 from Charlie Summers of The Old-Time Radio Digest, part of The OldRadio.Network: "The latest news on Jay's condition is good; his ventilator has been disconnected, although he is still in the ICU. Karen requests, "Keep those prayers coming for a full and complete recovery." You bet!
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