Doctors in France perform a second operation on the F1 legend after a skiing accident Sunday, but say he remains critically ill.
FULL STORY
Michael Schumacher shows slight improvement, doctors say
December 31, 2013 -- Updated 1612 GMT (0012 HKT)
Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher is shown in Hamburg, Germany, in September.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Manager: Schumacher hit a rock and was catapulted into the air, landed on his head
- Schumacher is showing a slight improvement but is not out of danger, doctor says
- The former Formula 1 driver had surgery Monday night to relieve pressure on his brain
- Schumacher suffered severe head trauma in a skiing accident in the French Alps
On Monday night, doctors
carried out a surgical intervention on Schumacher that allowed for some
pressure to be relieved on his brain in a way that was "gradual and
effective," said Jean-Francois Payen, head of anesthesiology at the
University Hospital Center of Grenoble.
The surgery, which took
about two hours, involved the removal of a large hematoma, he said.
Schumacher remains in a medically induced coma.
"The situation is better
under control than yesterday," Payen told reporters. "We cannot say that
he is out of danger, but we've gained a little time in his development.
But the hours to come are hours that are crucial in our strategy."
New video of Schumacher being airlifted
Auto-racing legend fights for his life
The surgery came after a scan showed a surprising improvement in Schumacher's condition Monday afternoon, Payen said.
After consulting with the
driver's family, Schumacher's doctors decided to seize the "window of
opportunity" and operate, he said.
But Payen warned that it
was too soon to speculate on Schumacher's prognosis. "There is still a
long way to go," he said. The driver is still in too fragile a state to
be moved to another hospital.
Schumacher, the most
successful driver in Formula 1 history, suffered severe head trauma
after falling while skiing Sunday in Meribel, in the French Alps.
'Catapulted onto his head'
His manager, Sabine
Kehm, recounted more details Tuesday of how the accident happened,
gleaned from friends and family members who were present at the time.
The party was skiing in
an area of deep snow when Schumacher helped a friend who had fallen, she
said. As he set off again and went to make a turn, he seems to have hit
a rock hidden under the snow.
This catapulted him into
the air and he fell head down with all his weight onto another rock,
she said, resulting in severe injuries to his head.
Schumacher was not
traveling fast at the time, Kehm said, so those with him were initially
shocked by how badly he was hurt. "It's not a question of speed but of
the angle that you hit the rock," she said.
Kehm also cautioned against reading too much into the doctors' latest report.
"They made it very clear
that they are not optimistic, that ... there was a slight improvement
compared to the situation yesterday, which doesn't mean we can be
optimistic yet," she said. "It's much too early to say."
Kehm declined to comment on the emotional state of Schumacher's family.
But she said
"heartwarming" messages of support have come flooding in via e-mails,
text messages and letters from people around the world.
In a statement released Tuesday, Schumacher's family expressed thanks for the outpouring.
"They are giving us great support. We all know he is a fighter and will not give up," the statement said.
Kehm said a journalist tried to sneak into Schumacher's hospital room disguised as a priest.
World titles
The accident happened
while Schumacher was off-piste -- meaning he was on unmarked slopes --
in the mountains between Georges Bauduis Piste and La Biche Piste,
resort director Christophe Gernignon-Lecomte said. The driver was
wearing a helmet at the time.
Schumacher, who turns 45
Friday, won a record seven world titles in his spectacular Formula 1
career and "also holds nearly every scoring record in the book by a
considerable margin," according to the motorsport's official website.
He dominated the
competition for the best part of a decade, winning five world
championships in a row between 2000 and 2004. He retired for the first
time at the end of the 2006 championship.
He returned to the
Formula 1 track with the revived Mercedes team in 2010 but struggled to
repeat his earlier glories. His best finish was third place at last
year's European Grand Prix in Valencia, his only podium position in
three seasons with the German manufacturer.
He retired from the sport for a second time in 2012.
Schumacher suffered a
serious injury once during his career in the high-speed sport, breaking
his leg in a crash at the British Grand Prix in 1999.
Maribel resort
.
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