An Italian neurosurgeon has disclosed that after six years since his skiing accident in France, Formula One legend Michael Schumacher is now highly ‘altered’ and a mere shadow of his former self.
Schumacher, 51, emerged from a prolonged coma following a severe brain injury sustained in December 2013, during a skiing accident in the French Alps where he hit his head on a rock while skiing off-piste.
Reportedly in a vegetative state, he is being looked after by a medical team at his Lake Geneva mansion, along with his wife Corinna and their two children, Gina-Marie, 22, and Mick, 20.
A seven-time world champion, Schumacher made a fortune during his peak years and the funds are now being used for his medical care.
Italian neurosurgeon, Nicola Acciari, affirmed that Schumacher is now ‘a very different person from the one we remember on the racing track.’
‘We must imagine a person very different from the one we remember on the track, with a very altered and deteriorated organic, muscular, and skeletal structure,’ Acciari disclosed to Italian newspaper Contro Copertina. ‘All as a result of the brain trauma he suffered.’
‘I’m always careful with such statements, but it’s true. I saw the race together with Michael Schumacher at his home in Switzerland,’ he added. ‘Michael is in the best hands and is well looked after in his house. He does not give up and keeps fighting.’
‘His family is fighting just as much and of course our friendship cannot be the same as it once was just because there’s no longer the same communication as before,’ Todt added.
Schumacher has not been seen since the accident, leaving the public to speculate on his condition.