|
| Professor Jean-Francois Payen answers questions from journalists during a press conference at the Grenoble hospital, in the French Alps, where former seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is being treated after sustaining a head injury during a ski accident in Meribel, France, Monday, Dec. 30, 2013. Doctors treating Michael Schumacher refused Monday to predict the outcome for the former Formula One driver, saying they were taking his very critical head injury "hour by hour”. Chief anesthesiologist Jean-Francois Payen told reporters that the seven-time champion is still in a medically induced coma. |
GRENOBLE, France
(AP) -- Doctors offered a grim assessment of Michael Schumacher's
head injuries Monday, providing no prognosis for the Formula One driving
great after his skiing accident in the French Alps.
Schumacher
has been placed in a medically induced coma to relieve pressure on his
brain, which suffered bruising and bleeding when the retired seven-time
world champion fell and struck a rock Sunday while skiing during a
family vacation.
"We cannot predict the future
for Michael Schumacher," Dr. Jean-Francois Payen, the doctor in charge
of Grenoble University Hospital's intensive care unit, said at a news
conference.
"He is in a critical state in
terms of cerebral resuscitation," said Payen, the chief anesthesiologist
treating the 44-year-old German driver. "We are working hour by hour."
Schumacher's wife, Corinna, daughter Gina Maria and son Mick were at his bedside.
"The family is not doing very well, obviously. They are shocked," his manager, Sabine Kehm, told reporters.
Schumacher
earned universal admiration for his uncommon driving talent, which led
to a record 91 race wins. His single-minded dedication to victory
sometimes meant he was denied the same affection during his career that
he received Monday.
Schumacher "gave the image
of someone indestructible, powerful," France's four-time F1 champion
Alain Prost said on iTele TV channel. "It's a banal accident compared to
what he's done in the past . It's just a dumb thing that ended badly."
Schumacher
and his 14-year-old son were skiing Sunday morning in the French Alpine
resort of Meribel, where the family has a chalet. He fell and hit the
right side of his head on a rock.
By wearing a
helmet, Schumacher had given himself a chance of survival, Payen said,
though the protection was not enough to prevent serious injury.
Gerard
Saillant, a trauma surgeon who operated on Schumacher when he broke his
leg in a 1999 race crash, was at the hospital as a visitor. He told
reporters that Schumacher's age and fitness should work in his favor.
Schumacher, who turns 45 on Friday, retired from the track for the second time only last year, after a three-season comeback.
Still,
the hospital's neurology team, which is recognized as among the best in
France, was cautious about Schumacher's prospects.
Doctors
lowered his body temperature to between 34 and 35 degrees Celsius (93.2
to 95 degrees Fahrenheit) as part of the coma, which essentially rests
the brain, slowing its metabolism to help reduce inflammation after an
injury.
The hospital, in a city that is the gateway to the French Alps, sees a large number of skiing accidents every year.
Schumacher
has been seriously hurt before. In addition to the broken leg in a
crash at the 1999 British Grand Prix, he also suffered neck and spine
injuries after a motorcycle accident in 2009 in Spain.
An
expert skier, Schumacher fell in a section of trails that slice down
through a vast and, in parts, very steep snowfield. Although
challenging, the snowfield is not extreme skiing. The runs are broad and
neatly tended, and the ungroomed area in between - where the resort
said Schumacher was found - is free of trees.
"He
was in the deep snow. But it was not an off-piste track," Kehm said,
suggesting Schumacher had not taken undue risks. "They were skiing on
pistes, but in the moment that it (the accident) happened, it was not on
the piste."
Meribel resort officials said Schumacher was conscious when first responders arrived, although agitated and in shock.
After
the fall, Payen said Monday, Schumacher was not in a "normal state of
consciousness." He did not respond to questions, and his limbs appeared
to move involuntarily, the doctor said.
He was
airlifted to a local hospital and then later brought to Grenoble.
Doctors said that stopover was typical and did not affect his condition.
The
French prosecutor in Albertville has opened an investigation into the
accident, according to the Mountain Gendarmerie in Bourg-Saint-Maurice.
The goal is to determine the circumstances and cause of the accident.
Formula One drivers and fans rushed to wish Schumacher a quick recovery.
"Like
millions of Germans, the chancellor and members of the government were
extremely dismayed when they heard about Michael Schumacher's serious
skiing accident," German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen
Seibert, said in Berlin.
Sebastian Vettel, the
Formula One racer for whom Schumacher was a boyhood idol, told German
news agency dpa: "I am shocked and hope that he will get better as soon
as possible."
Ferrari, which Schumacher raced
for, also expressed its concern. Company President Luca di Montezemolo
and race team leader Stefano Domenicali were in contact with the family,
the company said in a statement.
Former
Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa, who himself recovered from
life-threatening head injuries at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009,
wrote on Instagram: "I am praying for you my brother!! I hope you have a
quick recovery!! God bless you, Michael."
British former F1 champion Jenson Button posted that "Michael more than anyone has the strength to pull through this."
Some fans gathered outside the hospital Monday.
Nuravil Raimbekov, a student from Kyrgyzstan who is studying in Grenoble, said Schumacher has been an inspiration to him.
"I'm worried, of course ... But I still hope, and I will pray for him," he said.
During
his career, Schumacher set an array of Formula One records. After
initial success with the Benetton team, winning his first two
championships in 1994 and 1995, Schumacher moved to Ferrari.
There,
he helped turn the storied Italian team into the sport's dominant
force. After initially retiring in 2006, he made a comeback in 2010 and
raced for three years with Mercedes.
