Family maintains secrecy about Schumacher’s health ten years after accident – 12/29/2023 – Sport

On the morning of December 29, 2013, Michael Schumacher, 54, suffered a skiing accident in Méribel, France, which forever changed his life. The seven-time F1 champion suffered serious injuries when he hit his head and was kept in a medically induced coma until June 2014. Ten years after the incident, the health status of the former German driver is still kept secret by his family, who live in seclusion.

From 2000 to 2004, Schumacher made history at Ferrari with five consecutive driver titles in the elite of motorsport, and became the first seven-time world champion. In 2014, after three months in the Lausanne hospital, he returned to his mansion in Switzerland to continue treatment at home.

In the same year, former driver Philippe Streiff, a friend of Schumacher who died in 2022, revealed that the seven-time champion was paralyzed in a wheelchair. The German’s wife, Corinna only appeared in public again in 2017, when Mick, the couple’s son, made his debut in European F3.

The last information about Schumacher’s recovery was released in September 2019, when he was admitted to a Paris hospital for a supposed stem cell procedure. The following month, her private surgeon denied having performed the treatment and said he was unable to perform miracles.

In October this year, the family’s lawyer explained to the German legal magazine Legal Tribune Online that the former pilot’s family chose not to disclose information about his health status because no statement would be able to resolve the public’s curiosity, as it would not be definitive.

“It was always about protecting private information. We discussed a lot about how to make that possible, and we also considered that a final report on Michael’s health would be the right way to do it. But that wouldn’t have been the end, and we would have had to have updated reports constantly. The media, again and again, would ask ‘how is he now?’ one, two, three months or years after the message”, said Felix Damm.

In 2021, Corinna explained the family’s choice to guarantee the former pilot’s privacy in the Netflix documentary “Schumacher”.

“Everyone misses Michael, but Michael is here. Different, but he’s here, and that gives us strength. We’re together. We live at home together, we go to therapy. We do everything we can to make Michael better and to make sure that he feels comfortable and simply feels our family, our bond”, he said at the time.

According to her, the family seeks to live as the former pilot liked and still does. “‘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 has always protected us, now we’re protecting him,” she added.

The couple’s son, Mick Schumacher said in the documentary that, since the accident, common experiences between parents and children no longer happen, or are less frequent.

“That’s a bit unfair. I think my father and I would understand each other in a different way now because we speak a similar language, that of motorsport, and we would have a lot more to talk about. That’s what I think about most of the time , how cool it would be. I would give anything for that”, he said.

In July 2022, Jean Todt, former president of the International Automobile Federation, former Ferrari sporting director and friend of Schumacher, revealed, without giving further details, that he watches F1 races with the former driver. He is one of the few authorized by the family to visit the seven-time champion.

The family’s seclusion was the subject of a statement by Eddie Jordan earlier this year. Founder of Jordan, he gave the German his first chance in F1 and had a request to visit his colleague denied in 2013, shortly after the accident.

“It’s been almost ten years, and Corinna hasn’t been able to go to a party, a lunch, this or that. She’s like a prisoner, because everyone would want to talk to her about Michael, when she doesn’t need reminders every minute,” he told The Sun Online.