Michael Schumacher, the most successful driver in Formula 1 history and one of the world's highest-profile athletes, is in critical condition after suffering severe head trauma in a skiing accident in the French Alps on Sunday, hospital officials said.

The 44-year-old German, who retired from the elite motorsport for the second time in 2012, fell and hit his head on a rock, said the director of the Meribel resort where Schumacher was skiing.

Schumacher was in a coma when he arrived at the University Hospital Center of Grenoble and required immediate brain surgery, hospital officials said in a written statement.

Doctors haven't so far released further details about his injuries or prognosis, but an update is expected Monday.

Schumacher won a record seven world titles during 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.

Schumacher suffered serious injury once during his career in the high-speed sport, breaking his leg in a crash at the British Grand Prix in 1999.

Wearing a helmet

His skiing accident happened while he was off-piste (on unmarked slopes) Sunday morning in the mountains between Georges Bauduis Piste and La Biche Piste, said resort director Christophe Gernignon-Lecomte.

Reputed to be a strong skier, the motor-racing star was wearing a helmet when he hit his head, Gernignon-Lecomte said. Rescuers reached him minutes later and airlifted him to a nearby hospital, he said.

The cause of the accident, which is being investigated by police, remains unclear, according to Gernignon-Lecomte.

Schumacher "was not alone" when he fell, his spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said in a statement. But nobody else was involved, she said.

The accident took place just days ahead of his 45th birthday on Friday.

'A great champion'

Former French Formula 1 driver Olivier Panis visited the hospital in Grenoble but was not able to see Schumacher, CNN affiliate BFM TV reported.

"I will come back tomorrow. Yes, I am worried," Panis told the affiliate

"I know that his family has arrived," he said. "As I am here in Grenoble, I want to come to him and say hello, for old times' sake. He is a great champion and someone very loved in Formula 1."

Schumacher has a wife, Corinna, and two children, Gina-Maria and Mick. His brother Ralf was also a Formula 1 driver.

Schumacher made his Formula 1 debut in 1991 and had won a record seven world titles -- five of them with Ferrari -- by the time 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.

'A very good skier'

Sunday's accident occurred at a popular ski resort in an area known for its challenging slopes above the tree line.

"If you are anything less than a really experienced skier, it's very easy to lose your bearings, because you don't see much in the way of vegetation around you or anything else," said Paul Hochman, a former contributing editor at SKI Magazine. "It's just literally all white, all snow."

British journalist Kevin Garside told CNN that Schumacher is "a very good skier" but acknowledged that he is "fearless" -- like most Formula 1 drivers.

"These people don't recognize fear like you and I do. There is no gene in their body that lets them go slow," Garside said.

"Schumacher wasn't a skier when he joined Ferrari (in 1996), but by the end he was excellent," he said. "Each year Ferrari used to have a media week in the Alps in Italy and they would always have a race -- and it was always Schumacher who won. He was a genuinely quick skier.

"But he was always very mindful of the danger around him," Garside added. "I approached him for an interview at the top of the slope, and he said it would have to be quick as he wanted to check the piste. That meant he wanted to make sure he understood the slopes, the cambers, even though it was only a fun race."


During one of his period of temporary retirement, he was involved in a motorcycle crash in Spain in 2009 but escaped without serious injury.

Will keep you posted of developments on this fearless soprtsman who's not only been involved in F1 races and skiing, but also soccer and horse racing.

- http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/30/sport/motorsport/michael-schumacher-skiing-f1-motorsport/index.html?c=intl-homepage-t&page=3

@Op,I thought u said,u'll keep us posted,get well soon michael 'the stig' schumacher

Doctors who have been treating Schumacher at the University Hospital Center of Grenoble said at a news conference that it was too early to say what the driver's prognosis might be.

In a prepared statement, Schumacher's family thanked doctors for doing "everything possible to help Michael." They also thanked people around the world for the outpouring of support.

The 44-year-old German, who retired from the elite motorsport for the second time in 2012, fell and hit his head on a rock Sunday, said the director of the Meribel resort where Schumacher was skiing.

Schumacher was in a coma when he arrived at the hospital and required immediate brain surgery, officials said. So far, he has undergone one operation and is being kept in a coma, they said Monday.

Why induced comas help injured brains

To promote healing after Sunday's accident, doctors are keeping the German driver in a medically induced coma and lowered his body temperature, said Dr. Jean-Francois Payen, chief anesthesiologist at University Hospital Center of Grenoble, France, where the driver is being treated.

Traumatic brain injury causes the brain to swell, just like the inflammation that happens when you injure an elbow or knee. But because the brain is trapped inside your skull, pressure on the brain increases and restricts a lot of critical functions, such as blood supply, said Dr. David Wright, director of emergency neurosciences in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine.

"You're worried because the skull is a closed space," said Dr. Nicholas Schiff, professor of neurology and neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College. "As the brain starts to expand, the only place it has to go is down and out, and you damage the brain stem. You can die. You can create a lot of tissue damage."

Doctors take steps to try to reduce the energy requirements of the brain, which in turn reduces blood flow and pressure, and allows the brain to rest.

"It's kind of like cooling the engine down and allowing the healing process to, sort of, slowly occur," Wright said. "It also decreases the swelling of the brain, hopefully, and reduces the chance that you're going to get that increased intracranial pressure that's occurring."

The anesthetic propofol is commonly used for induced coma, although doctors have not made public what medications are being used in Schumacher's case.

Schumacher's specific injuries and the type of surgery he underwent at the hospital have not been disclosed, so Wright and Schiff could not comment on his individual case.

Head injuries are classified as mild, moderate or severe, according to how people interact with their environment. In mild injuries, patients are awake, alert and following commands. Moderate injuries might leave a patient confused or combative and not following commands. A patient with severe injury is in a coma.

When the head is hit hard, the brain moves back and forth within the skull, causing further stretching injury and damage, Wright said.

A secondary "cascade" of events can cause further harm by releasing chemicals that are toxic to the brain. Ions such as calcium flood into the brain's cells, which can cause cell death. This process causes swelling. If a cell doesn't die immediately, it may be injured enough that it essentially kills itself, a phenomenon called apoptosis.

"The goal in management is to really try to reduce and slow any of those processes down so you can save as many of the brain cells as possible," Wright said.

Schumacher's body temperature is being kept at between 34 and 35 degrees Celsius (93.2 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit), and he is being given anesthetics. This is called therapeutic hypothermia; too much colder than that temperature range would be harmful, Wright said.

The treatment of lowering body temperature is generally effective at keeping down intracranial pressure, but the evidence is not clear about the therapy improving outcomes in the end, Wright said. It also lowers the energy required by the brain and slows the swelling.

The biggest part of the brain's inflammatory response to injury peaks after 48 to 72 hours, so doctors usually keep the body cool for up to three to five days, Wright said.

- http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/30/health/induced-coma-schumacher/index.html

Any mention of his chances of a complete recovery?

Doctor: Schumacher shows slight improvement

- Former Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher, who suffered a serious head injury in a skiing accident, is showing a "slight improvement" in his condition, doctors in France said Tuesday.

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."

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.

- http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/31/sport/motorsport/michael-schumacher-accident/index.html?c=intl-homepage-t&page=1[b][/b]

Grenoble, France (CNN) -- Dozens of fans gathered Friday outside the French hospital treating former racing driver Michael Schumacher, keen to show their support as he lies in a coma on his 45th birthday.
Schumacher suffered severe head trauma in a skiing accident in the French Alps on Sunday.
Since then, he has undergone two operations and is said to be in stable but critical condition at the hospital in Grenoble city.
Scuderia Ferrari, the racing team division of the Italian carmaker, urged fans to join the vigil outside his hospital via its Facebook page.
People should dress in red, and it will be "a silent and respectful event," the page said.
Pauline Degot, 19, from France, told CNN, "It's important to show support to Schumacher on his birthday and especially when he needs us most."
Seventeen-year-old Italian Ferrari fan Marco Raccanello, using the driver's nickname, said, "I've watched Schumi since I was a little boy and it means a lot to be here today."
Some supporters joined together to display a huge Ferrari flag, while others carried banners with messages of encouragement for Schumacher. "Schumi, all our thoughts for you and your family," read one.
The driver's family and Ferrari praised his fighting spirit as he battles to overcome his injures.
"We would like to thank the people from all around the world who have expressed their sympathy and sent their best wishes for his recovery. They are giving us great support," his family posted on his official website.
"We all know he is a fighter and will not give up."
Ferrari, for whom Schumacher -- the most successful driver in Formula 1 history -- won 72 Grand Prix races between 1996 and 2006, also posted a birthday message on its website.
"This is a special day for Ferrari and all its fans, as it is Michael Schumacher's birthday," it said.
"At the moment, he is tackling the most important fight of his life and therefore we want to send him very special wishes."
Schumacher's manager, Sabine Kehm, said Wednesday that the driver was in a stable condition, but it's too early to speculate on his prospects for recovery.
He was catapulted headfirst onto a rock while skiing with family and friends in the resort of Meribel, she said.
On Monday night, doctors carried out a surgical intervention that relieved some pressure on his brain. They reported a slight improvement in his condition Tuesday, but he remained critically ill.
The University Hospital Center of Grenoble said doctors would not give an update Friday on Schumacher's condition unless it changed.


- http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/03/sport/motorsport/france-schumacher-accident/index.html?iref=allsearch