Official news on Schumacher’s health has been scant.
It was December 29 when he suffered a freak ski accident in the French Alps
which left him brain damaged and fighting for his life.
Schumacher, a very competent skier, was holidaying with family and friends in
Meribel, where he owns a chalet.
He was skiing with his 14-year-old son on a red piste, which is classed for
intermediate skiers.
But shortly after 11am he left the piste and skied on to an off-piste area
located in between the red run and a blue run, for beginners to
intermediates.
It was here that he struck a partially-covered rock. He was not skiing fast
but he lost control and catapulted 34 feet on to another rock.
He smashed his head on the bolder. The force of the collision shattered his
helmet. The footage recorded on a camera attached to his helmet was
undamaged.
The film, which included audio, captured the crash in full horror and was
analyzed by police who investigated the accident.
Two months later, on February 17, the head of the inquiry Prosecutor Patrick
Quincy closed the case. He announced that any criminal wrongdoing had been
ruled out.
He cleared the ski resort, stating that the piste had been marked correctly
and that Schumacher “deliberately” left the ski run.
Schumacher was airlifted from the slopes minutes after the accident to
Moutiers Hospital and was then transferred 80 miles west to CHU Grenoble, a
larger hospital that specializes in head injuries.
He arrived at 12.40pm and had been placed in an artificial coma. He was
immediately operated on to relieve pressure on his brain.
At the end of January it was announced that doctors had begun the process of
gradually awakening him from his coma.
And then on April 4, his spokeswoman Sabine Kehm revealed that he was showing
“moments of consciousness and awakening”.
He had opened his eyes and had interaction, albeit minimal, with his
environment.
It was the first piece of positive news for months.
Schumacher’s spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said Streiff’s comments were “his
opinions” and she therefore did not want to comment.
She added: “He did not have contact with us.”
Ms Kehm has said it was “very hard” for his loved ones to comprehend how the
racing car driver could have been so catastrophically injured in such a
“banal situation”.
His wife Corinna has been a constant presence at his bedside. She and
Schumacher met in 1991 on the F1 circuit after she was previously married to
racing driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
She once said: “Michael’s passion for racing is just huge, it would have been
impossible without this deep passion; this passion has made him who he is. I
got to know him as a racer, and I had previously always had fullest
confidence in him.”
He has referred to his marriage as “total harmony”, saying: “We have the same
vision of how we want to spend our lives. My wife Corinna and our harmonious
family – that is my main force always at play in the background.”
With an accumulated wealth estimated to be well over half-a-billion pounds,
Schumacher’s family is well placed to provide the limitless care that will
be needed in the coming years. This will include physiotherapists, to
massage his atrophying joints, doctors, nutritionists, nurses and
neurological experts.