Sepsis is a severe blood illness

Jeff Conaway died Friday morning of pneumonia and a sepsis infection. His family made the decision to take him off life support Thursday evening, after he spent two weeks in a coma.

“He was taken off life support yesterday afternoon,” Phil Brock, Conaway’s manager, said in a statement to Us Weekly. ”His sisters, nieces, nephews and ministers were by his side when life support was removed. On a personal note, we were his representatives for the last 8 years and we loved him as a person, respected him as an consummate entertainer and performer.”

Jeff Conaway has a history of drug abuse. He was hospitalized on May 11th after being found unconscious in his home in LA. It was originally thought that he had overdosed.

In 2008, he had appeared on VH1′s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew Pinsky. When Pinsky heard of Conaway’s death, he tweeted: “I’m saddened to report [Conaway] has succumbed to his addiction, thus far we have no evidence of an intentional overdose.”

Sepsis is a severe blood illness, according to consumer health site PubMed Health. With sepsis, bacteria from an infection overwhelms the bloodstream. The bacterial infection can begin anywhere in or on the body. Symptoms include confusion or delirium, decreased urine output, hyperventilation, lightheadedness, rapid heartbeat, skin rash, shaking and warm skin.

Sepsis causes low blood pressure, and as a result, body systems and organs like the kidneys, liver, lungs, and central nervous system fail.

Jeff Conaway had several roles on Kojak, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Happy Days, before becoming famous as Kenickie on the hit musical, Grease, with John Travolta. He then spent four seasons playing Bobby Wheeler, a struggling actor/cab driver, on the hit TV series Taxi.