Schumacher in coma after skiing accident
http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=937923&vId=4285103
Michael Schumacher, the retired seven-time Formula One
champion, is in a coma and remains in a critical condition after suffering head
injuries in a skiing accident in the French Alps on Sunday, the hospital
treating him said.
The 44-year-old German F1 legend was 'suffering a serious
brain trauma with coma on his arrival, which required an immediate
neurosurgical operation', the hospital in the southeast French city of Grenoble said in a brief
statement.
'He remains in a critical condition.'
Schumacher had been skiing off-piste in the upmarket Meribel
resort, where he reportedly has a property, when he fell and hit his head on a
rock.
He was airlifted to a local hospital, then, an hour later,
to the better-equipped Grenoble
facility. A specialist neurosurgeon from Paris
was rushed in to oversee his treatment.
The director of the Meribel resort, Christophe
Gernigon-Lecomte, had said just after the accident that Schumacher had been
wearing a helmet and was 'conscious but a little agitated', suggesting he had
not received life-threatening injuries.
But when Schumacher then fell into coma, doctors realised
the damage was worse than initially feared.
Two mountain police officers who gave first aid to
Schumacher said he was suffering 'severe cranial trauma' when they got to him
and a helicopter was brought in to evacuate him within 10 minutes.
A renowned Paris
neurosurgeon, doctor Gerard Saillant, arrived at the Grenoble hospital in a police car to help
take charge of the famous patient.
The hospital statement was signed by the facility's
neurosurgeon, the professor in charge of its anaesthesia/revival unit, and the
hospital's deputy director. It was issued jointly with the ex-racer's press
team in Germany.
The next update on Schumacher's condition would be given at
1000 GMT on Monday, a hospital spokesman said. Police were stationed to guard
the hospital's entrances.
Schumacher, who lives with his family in Switzerland,
was on a private stay in Meribel, according to his spokeswoman. He was
reportedly skiing with his 14-year-old son at the time of the accident.
He is to have his 45th birthday next Friday.
Schumacher critical in Grenoble
hospital
http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=937889
Retired Formula One legend Michael Schumacher is in a
critical condition in a French hospital with a brain haemorrhage after a skiing
accident
French television station BFMTV and local paper Le Dauphine
Libere reported late on Sunday the condition of the record seven-time F1
champion had deteriorated.
The paper said that the 44-year-old Schumacher banged his
head on a rock during a fall while skiing with his son at the French resort of
Meribel.
Schumacher's manager, Sabine Kehm, confirmed the accident,
but did not want to go into details.'Please understand that we cannot release
constant information about his health situation,' Kehm said.
Kehm confirmed that Schumacher was wearing a helmet at the
time of the accident.
RMC radio had earlier quoted Christophe Gernignon-Lecomte,
director of tourism in the resort, as saying that there was no call for alarm.
The German, who was conscious when he was reached by
rescuers, was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Moutiers, where he was
diagnosed with a cranial trauma. Le Dauphine Libere said he was then
transferred to a clinic in the city of Grenoble.
Meribel is part of an extensive ski region with about 180
lifts connecting three alpine valleys.
The clinic was reportedly cordoned off and Schumacher
treated by Gerard Saillant, who also operated him when he broke his calf and
shinbone during his most serious racing crash at the 1999 British Grand Prix.
Schumacher retired from Formula One a second time at the end
of the 2012 season. He won two world titles with Benetton and five in a row
with Ferrari.
Schumacher has had accidents before, including a motorcycle
crash in February 2009 in Cartagena,
Spain, where he
damaged a vertebra, a rib and the bottom of his skull.
At the time, his doctor, Johannes Peil, said it had caused
the racer the most serious long-term harm of his career.
That accident denied him taking the place of Felipe Massa at
Ferrari after the Brazilian suffered severe head injuries in a crash at the
Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009.
Gérard Saillant
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gérard_Saillant
Le
professeur Gérard Saillant, né en mars 1945, est un chirurgien orthopédiste et
traumatologique.
Michael Schumacher fighting for his life after horrific
skiing accident
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/michael-schumacher-fighting-life-after-2971609