Three years ago today the world was in shock at hearing the news that 7 time Formula One World Champion and racing legend, Michael Schumacher had suffered an injury following a fall when he was skiing off piste.
Enjoying the Christmas holidays with his family, Michael and son Mick, who was 14 at the time, were skiing down the Combe de Saulire below the Dent de Burgin above Méribel in the French Alps when Michael crossed the off piste area between Piste Chamois and Piste Mauduit.
Michael was extremely safety conscious and never did any activity with the proper safety equipment and skiing was no different, however, despite all his safety gear, when he fell and hit his head on a rock, the helmet didn’t absorb the entire impact. It did however save his life.
Rushed by helicopter to the hospital in Grenoble where he was placed into a medically induced coma due to a very traumatic brain injury and remained in that state for three months before doctors attempted to bring him back to a conscious state. Sadly, even though the sleep inducing drugs were removed, Michael remained in a vegetative state.
Six months after his accident, Michael was moved to a rehabilitation ward at the University Hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland, where his devoted family and close friends worked with him around the clock.
Three months later on September 9th 2014, he finally left hospital and went home with his family in a purposely built hospice at their Swiss home, however, he remained in the vegetative state where he remains to this day.
Information regarding the F1 legends health is very scarce as the family continue to protect his privacy, which was very important to him during his career. While we may get snippets of information, such as reports that he is paralysed and in a wheelchair, unable to speak, his manager, Sabine Kehm, will only confirm that he is ‘slowly improving’.
Despite the frustration at not knowing how their idol really is faring after such a tragedy, fans worldwide grieve for Michael while the Formula One world continues to urge him to fight what is most surely the biggest battle of his life.
Meanwhile, his now 17 year old son, Mick, is following in his footsteps and has just stepped up to the Formula 3 series for 2017.
'Keep Fighting Michael.'
