It has sadly been eight years since Michael Schumacher suffered a skiing accident whilst visiting the French resort of Meribel with his family. The seven-time World Champion had been retired from Formula 1 for one year, having left the sport at the end of 2012 following a three-year comeback stint with Mercedes. Schumacher, an experienced skiier, fell and hit his head on a rock, and sustained a serious head injury, despite wearing a helmet. After being taken to hospital in Grenoble, he was operated on and was placed in a medically induced coma to help reduce swelling in his brain. By the summer of 2014, it was announced that Schumacher was no longer in a coma, and had been transferred to the university hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland. In September of the same year, Schumacher returned to his family home to continue his treatment.
"We hope that things will slowly but surely improve"
In the years that have followed, the Schumacher family have opted to keep the details of Schumacher's condition private. Sabine Kehm - Schumacher's manager, who now also looks after the F1 icon's son Mick as he embarks on his own racing career - has occasionally spoken out to deny speculative stories about the 52-year-old. Jean Todt worked alongside Schumacher at Ferrari for many years, and recently retired from the role of FIA President. The Frenchman regularly visits Schumacher, and shared a rare update earlier this year. "Thanks to the work of his doctors and the cooperation of Corinna, who wanted him to survive, he survived - but with consequences," Todt told German publication Bild . "And right now you are fighting the consequences. We hope that things will slowly but surely improve."
The family speak
Schumacher's wife Corinna, as well as their children Mick and Gina, chose to publicly speak about the skiing accident for the first time in the 2021 Netflix documentary film, Schumacher. "Of course, I miss Michael every day," Corinna said. "But it's not just me who misses him: the children, the family, his father, everyone around him. "Everybody misses Michael, but Michael is here. [It's] different, but he's here, and that gives us strength, I find." She also spoke about the treatment that Schumacher continues to receive at home. "We do therapy, we do everything we can to make Michael better, and to make sure he's comfortable, and to simply make him feel our family, our bond. And no matter what, I will do everything I can. We all will. "We're trying to carry on as a family the way Michael liked it and still does and we are getting on with our lives. 'Private is private', he always said. "It's very important to me that he can continue to enjoy his private life as much as possible, Michael always protected us, now we are protecting Michael." Meanwhile, Mick Schumacher reflected on the sadness he feels at being unable to share experiences and discuss his racing career with his father. "Since the accident these [family] experiences, these moments that I believe many people have with their parents are no longer present, or to a lesser extent, and in my view that is a little unfair," Mick explained. "I think dad and me, we would understand each other in a different way now simply because we speak a similar language, the language of motorsport, and that we would have much more to talk about. "And that's where my head is most of the time, thinking that would be so cool. I would give up everything just for that."
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