Michael Jackson's Death & One Year Anniversary

[Princess]

It's hard to believe, but the one year anniversary of Michael Jackson's death is today (June 25, 2010). Michael Jackson died a year ago today (June 25, 2009) after suffering cardiac arrest at his rented Holmby Hills mansion in Los Angeles, California. He was pronounced dead at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center at 2:26 pm after medical staff tried to resuscitate him for about an hour.

Propofol, also known as Diprivan, is administered via IV as a general anesthetic that is used to sedate patients for surgeries and is only available to medical personnel. Michael Jackson had used Propofol to help him sleep because of a serve case of insomnia. Toxicology reports confirmed Michael died of "acute propofol intoxication".

MICHAEL'S FINAL DAYS AND MONTHS


Before his passing, On March 5, 2009 Michael Jackson announced a series of 50 concerts that were scheduled to begin in July 2009 and continue through March 2010. All 50 concert tickets sold out and broke record with 16,000 applications every second as fans were trying to register for tickets to see the King of Pop's final shows before retirement. Michael rehearsed for the shows at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Jackson died less than three weeks before the first concert date.

[Princess]

Exhausted, Zhang planned to retreat from the public spotlight after Jackson’s pending July concert in London.

The King of Pop’s sudden passing disrupted Zhang’s plans.

“I had a bad year,” Zhang told China Daily. “To me, Michael was a family member. I remember every detail of that day. I’ve been living quite an unreal life since.”

As he struggled with his grief, Zhang felt the need to continue his fan club activities as a way to carry on the pop star’s memory and to comfort fellow fans.

“He’s the core that glues all the fans together,” Wei Wei, a 27-year-old admirer of Zhang’s who has worked for the fan club since 2005, told China Daily. “For some, seeing him is like meeting Michael in person: Jackson is far away, but Zhang comes nearest to our icon.”

Zhang has become a celebrity in his own right, as fans clamor for his autograph at Jackson-related gatherings. His website www.mjjcn.com/ has more than 100,000 registered members and 100 million visitors since it was first launched in 2000. Browsing through the site, one sees a flurry of activity on the message boards as fans voiced their sorrow and admiration for Jackson as the one-year anniversary of his death approached.

“One word: love,” one fan wrote. Another posted, “Angel, do you know how much we miss you? Thanks for the endless happiness you gave us.”
ABC's Mary Huang reports from Beijing:

A year ago, 28-year-old Zhang Rui prepared for his last hurrah. Credited as China’s No. 1 Michael Jackson fan, the president of Jackson’s Chinese fan club had spent nine years maintaining the world’s largest online fan community.

He devoted every spare moment to Jackson-related activities, from translating English news stories into Chinese to attending fan club gatherings and acting as an unofficial Jackson spokesman for the Chinese media.

Others posted their cities and online contact information, hoping to set up group vigils.

Zhang, a Jackson fan for 16 years, came across the singer’s work by accident when he borrowed a classmate’s tape of Jackson’s album Dangerous in junior high and became entranced by the singer’s idealistic message.

“Michael tells me to see the world with love and tolerance, to change the world for the better, and to persist on my own path in face of any difficulties,” Zhang told China Daily.

Source: abc