Hope & Fear: The Schumacher drama from December 29th

It should be a nice holiday again in Michael Schumacher's winter home. With friends in the mountains, Christmas is just over, New Year's Eve and the birthday of the Formula 1 record world champion are approaching. But things turn out differently, completely differently.

“Michael fell on his head during a private ski trip in the French Alps. He was taken to the hospital and is receiving professional medical care," said Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm in the early afternoon of December 29, 2013. What sounds sober is actually much more dramatic. Schumacher is fighting for his life.

One second changes everything It happens around 11.00am on December 29th. Schumacher travels with rental skis, he is a good skier. A camera is attached to his helmet and will later be used by investigators to reconstruct the seconds of the accident. Schumacher skis about three to six meters off a marked piste. As he starts to swing he hits a rock, he loses control in the rather flat area with light fresh snow, is levered out and crashes his head onto another rock.

Michael Schumacher was a passionate skier. © APA/epa / ERCOLE COLOMBO

His helmet breaks. Schumacher did not, as initially reported from France, race across country from one track to another. Schumacher wasn't even going fast. The following studies prove all of this. No foul play has been established; it is simply an incomprehensible chain of unfortunate events. Schumacher is fighting for his life Schumacher is approachable but slightly confused. First aid by mountain rescuers, transport by helicopter. Destination Moûtiers. As it becomes apparent in the dramatic minutes on board, Schumacher's injuries are too severe to be treated there; he is taken to the University Hospital in Grenoble, less than two hours after the fall. Emergency surgery. The public doesn't even know he fell.

The rest of the family rushes to Grenoble, and their closest companions also arrive on the evening of the accident, including the doctor Gérard Saillant. It becomes very clear: this is very serious. “My thoughts are with Schumi,” writes basketball superstar Dirk Nowitzki. “I pray for you, my brother!” writes Felipe Massa, Schumacher’s former teammate at Ferrari.

“I pray for you, my brother!” Felipe Massa Schumacher survives the first night, and shortly before noon there is certainty: “We are worried about his condition,” says Saillant. Schumacher’s condition remains “extremely serious.” He has widespread brain injuries. Schumacher is being operated on a second time; he is in an artificial coma. At the end of January, the anesthetics will be reduced "in order to put him through a recovery process, which can take a very long time," explains manager Kehm.

At the beginning of April it was said that Schumacher showed “moments of consciousness and awakening”. In mid-June, when Schumacher is no longer in a coma according to official information, he will be transferred to a rehabilitation clinic in Lausanne. Since September 2014 he has been recovering from his skiing accident at home in Gland on Lake Geneva, looked after by doctors and nurses.

At the end of the same year, Kehm said in a TV interview that Schumacher was making progress commensurate with the severity of the injury. However, she could not give a serious outlook on Schumacher's recovery process: "That is simply not possible in this situation." Disguised as a priest And that's how it is today. Only a few people know how Schumacher is really doing. The attempts to obtain information were brazen and criminal from the start. In the clinic in the first few days, a journalist disguised as a priest tried to get to Schumacher, another tried to pretend to be Schumacher's father.

Schumacher's state of health is a valuable asset in every sense. The family has not revealed any information about the record world champion for a long time. “I can understand that there are people who are interested, who have a serious interest in knowing how he is doing,” said the family's lawyer, Felix Damm, once about the thirst for knowledge in the Schumacher case. On the other hand, one must also be able to understand that after the end of his active PS career, the Kerpener “has a right to live in his privacy”.

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Hope & Fear: The Schumacher drama from December 29th

“Michael fell on his head during a private ski trip in the French Alps.” The first official statement about the Schumacher accident five years ago. What follows are days, weeks and months of anxiety. The uncertainty remains to this day.

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