Michael Schumacher Out of Coma
By Opeyemi Oladunjoye
The family of Formula One champion, Michael Schumacher has announced that he is no longer in a coma and has been transferred from the hospital in Grenoble to Lausanne university hospital in Switzerland.
The 45-year-old was placed in a medically induced coma after suffering a severe head injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps on 29 December.
His family praised the “excellent job” of the medical staff at the hospital in Grenoble, in south-east France as Doctors there had kept the seven-time champion in a coma to help reduce swelling in his brain. They also thanked people who had sent messages of support, saying: “We are sure it helped him.”
Schumacher’s manager, Sabine Kehm, said in a statement on behalf of his family on Monday: “Michael has left the CHU Grenoble to continue his long phase of rehabilitation. He is not in a coma anymore.
“For the future, we ask for understanding that his further rehabilitation will take place away from the public eye,” she said, without giving further details.
Relatives have previously warned that “it was clear from the start that this will be a long and hard fight for Michael”.
It is however not clear what Schumacher’s condition is and his process of recovery is still expected to be a long one.
Monday’s statement was the first substantial update since early April when Ms Kehm said the German racing driver was showing “moments of consciousness and awakening.”
The German football team had sent their wishes to the F1 legend from the World Cup in Brazil at the weekend. Lukas Podolski, the Arsenal striker, told a news conference: “I’d like to greet a good friend, who unfortunately is unable to be here. He is Michael Schumacher.
“He is just as crazy about football as all of us. We wish his family a lot of strength. If we win the title, that would be something that would make him happy.”