Formula 1 Legend Michael Schumacher is given high recovery possibilities by one of his physicians after the skiing accident which took place in the French Alps resort of Meribel in December 2013 and which at the time seemed to be a tragic event. Michael Schumacher hit his head on a rock and although wearing a helmet, it broke and caused a brain injury. Consequently, he underwent surgery due to brain hemorrhage and was put into an induced coma in order to reduce swelling in his brain.
Jean-Francois Payen, a doctor who treated the Formula 1 world-champion in the Grenoble hospital after the accident, has given interviews to French newspapers such as Le Parisien. According to him, Michael Schumacher is now bound to get through a recovery process which might last for approximately 3 years: ’’I have seen some progress but I would say give him time. It’s like other patients, we are in a timescale that ranges from one year to three years, so it takes patience’’. The head of Anesthesiology at Grenoble University Hospital, Mister Payen, has also given an interview to RTL Radio. According to him, ‘’Life after a brain injury is littered with stages’’. This means that the possibilities of recovering from such an event are debatable and strictly related to the passage of time and step-by-step nursing. One of the tangible decisional factors in such extreme cases is the overall state of the patient, his medical history and body resistance. The doctors of the 45 years old champion agree that he is now in a promising phase of recovery.
Michael Schumacher has left hospitalization and is now being attended to in his house in Gland, Switzerland, where Professor Payen makes regular visits in order to keep track of his injury and observe the recovery process. The doctor underlines the importance of family support in such dramatic encounters and praises Michael Schumacher’s wife, Corinna Schumacher, for her understanding of the situation and immediate rational reaction to the implied consequences: ’’Immediately she understood the seriousness of the situation and the long journey that lay before them. She sees things very clearly and will do anything and give everything to improve the condition of her husband.’’