[ 2013-12-31 ]

Michael and Corinna Schumacher at the Oktoberfest in Munich in October

Schumacher crashed ‘skiing at 60mph’
Michael Schumacher’s taste for speed may have
been responsible for the skiing accident that has
left him in a coma and fighting for his life.
The seven-time Formula One motor racing champion
is believed to have been skiing in powder snow
between two prepared pistes at between 60km/h and
100km/h (37mph to 62mph) in the French resort of
Méribel when he fell and hit his head on a rock,
a source close to the investigation into the
accident said.
Surgeons said yesterday that Schumacher, an
experienced skiier who turns 45 on Friday,
remained in a critical condition after undergoing
brain surgery on Sunday.
He has been put in an artificial coma with his
body temperature kept below 35C and has lesions
and a hematoma on his brain. His medical team said
that the next two days would be critical in
determining his chances of survival.
Schumacher’s wife, Corinna, and their two
children, Mick, 14, and Gina-Maria, 16, remained
at his bedside at Grenoble’s university hospital
last night.
Doctors said that without his helmet, which split
under the impact of the crash, the world’s most
successful racing driver would already be dead.
However, the source said that for his helmet to
break on impact, Schumacher would have been
travelling at high speed. “He must have been
going fast. In order to split your helmet, you
need to be doing at least 60km/h and more probably
something closer to 100km/h. Speed was almost
certainly a factor here,” the source added.
As shock spread through the motor racing world and
beyond, the current world champion and fellow
German Sebastian Vettel told Bild: “I hope that
he gets better as quickly as possible. I wish his
family much strength.”
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said that
she and millions of Germans were extremely
shocked.
Schumacher’s family said in a statement: “We
would like to thank the medical team who we know
do everything possible to help Michael. We would
like to also thank the people from all around the
world who have expressed their sympathy and sent
their best wishes for Michael’s recovery.”
The Formula One hero, his wife and children had
travelled from their mansion in Gland in
Switzerland to spend the festive season in their
chalet in Meribel. All plans for his 45th birthday
party on Friday have now been abandoned.
Professor Stephan Chabardès, the neurosurgeon who
operated on Schumacher, said: “The next 24 or 48
hours will be decisive. He was operated upon in a
serious condition with a serious, severe brain
trauma. We are following the evolution hour by
hour.
“He is in a critical condition. The operation
was to evacuate the hematoma that could be
evacuated. Now we need to protect his brain.”
The accident happened on Sunday morning when
Schumacher and his son were skiing beside
authorised pistes called Georges Mauduit and La
Biche. However, he veered into an unauthorised
zone between the two, which is where the accident
happened.
About 40cm of snow had fallen overnight, and the
rock that he struck with the right side of his
head was all but hidden.
Rescue workers reached Schumacher within three
minutes and he was airlifted to the nearby
Moutiers Hospital less than a quarter of an hour
later. Within an hour, the decision had been taken
to transfer him to the hospital in Grenoble, which
has the capacity to treat more serious ski
injuries.
Professor Jean-François Payen, head of the
intensive care department at the Grenoble
hospital, said that Schumacher was not in a
“normal state of consciousness” when he
arrived. “There were movements from his four
limbs but he was not answering questions,”
Professor Payen said. “We can say that his
condition is life-threatening.”
He refused to predict Schumacher’s chances or to
comment upon reports of brain damage if he lived.
“For the moment we cannot say what Michael
Schumacher’s future is,” he said. Professor
Payen added that the accident had occurred while
Schumacher was skiing at high speed and said that
his helmet had given him partial protection.
“Someone without a helmet would not have got
this far,” he said.
He denied claims that the decision to transfer
Schumacher to Moutiers Hospital before taking him
to Grenoble had cost vital minutes.
Professor Gérard Saillant, one of France’s top
brain surgeons who flew to Grenoble from Paris
last night, said that Schumacher’s prime
physical condition would be a help in the fight
for his life. “Someone of 70 is less likely to
survive this sort of crash than someone who is 45,
and someone like Michael who is in top condition
is more likely to survive than someone else.”
Professor Saillant, who operated on Schumacher in
1995 after the driver injured his leg in a crash,
said that he was at the Grenoble hospital as a
friend rather a surgeon. He said he had spoken
with the driver’s family, whom he described as
“worried like a wife, worried like children. We
are all concerned.”
Schumacher’s family said that doctors were doing
everything possible and asked the media to
“respect our private life”.
A steady stream of “Schumi” fans made a
pilgrimage yesterday to the junior race track
owned by the German driver’s father Rolf, which
is now the Michael Schumacher Kart and Event
Centre.
One fan left a baseball cap pinned to the gates
with the message “get well soon” written on
the brim, but the centre itself, in the town of
Kerpen 20km from Cologne in western Germany,
remained locked and deserted. It was here that
Schumacher learnt to race as a teenager and first
showed the talent that would lead him to conquer
the world of Formula One.
“I hope he survives this, and that he survives
without permanent damage,” Edward Zawadzki, 80,
a former neighbour told the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger
newspaper.
Another former neighbour told the newspaper: “I
feel sorry for him, but he loved to take risks. He
has raced umpteen times but nothing as bad
happened to him as when he was skiing.”

Source - The Times(UK)

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