Billy Mays Died After Head Injury

TV pitchman Billy Mays died Sunday morning at the young age of 50 following a head injury. Mays was onboard a U.S. Airways flight on Saturday when the front tires blew out causing heavy objects to either fall on Mays’s head, or he hit his head on a hard object, it is not clear exactly which happened, but he did get a head injury. After the flight Mays spoke to Fox 13 in Tampa saying:

"It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

Mays wrote on Twitter:

"Just had a close call landing in Tampa. The tires blew out upon landing. Stuck in the plane on the runway. You can always count on US Air."

Mays’ wife, Deborah, found him in bed at their home and called 911 when she couldn’t revive him around 7:45a.m.

Tampa police said there were no signs of foul play.

Police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said any connection between the rough landing and Mays’ death would "purely be speculation." There were no reported injuries at the time of the landing. An autopsy will be done on Mays today.

Mays’ son Billy Mays, Jr. (22) wrote on Twitter:

"My dad didn’t wake up this morning. It hasn’t yet hit me but it’s about to. He’s gone. I’m gonna be strong for him. I’m thankful I got to talk to my dad last night. I miss him immensely already. But I feel him with me."

Mays had no known major health problems, although he walked with a limp and was planning to have hip replacement surgery.

Deborah Mays said in a statement:

"Although Billy lived a public life, we don’t anticipate making any public statements over the next couple of days. Our family asks that you respect our privacy during these difficult times."

Billy’s wife said that Billy said he wasn’t feeling well before he went to bed Saturday night, and he died in his sleep.

The autopsy results revealed this morning showed that Billy had hypertension (high blood pressure), and heart disease, specifically coronary artery sclerosis (atherosclerosis), or a narrowing of the heart arteries due to plague build up. Billy’s had an enlarged heart, which means he was heading towards congestive heart failure (CHF) later in his life. At this point doctors suspect, but may never be able to confirm, that a lethal arrhythmia (abnormal heart beat) may have been the cause of death.

The inflammation from Mays bad hip could have accelerated the build up of plague in his heart arteries, especially the Left Anterior Descending (LAD) artery that supplies blood to the the heart’s left ventricle, which pumps about 75% of the blood. When the LAD is occluded (clogged), and that causes an anterior myocardial infarction (a type of heart attack), it is referred to as the Widow Maker. Any electrical disturbance in the left ventricle could be deadly. Sometimes the first sign of heart disease, besides abnormal cholesterol and lipid levels, is sudden cardiac death.

The autopsy did not show any evidence of an external or internal head injury.

Billy Mays was one of the most pleasant, and likable pitchmen in the business. We will miss you Billy. Our best wishes to Billy’s family.