Michael Schumacher News Update: Former F1 Racer is Wheelchair Bound and Unable to Speak
Michael Schumacher is in a wheelchair, paralyzed and unable to speak, according to former racing star Philippe Streiff.
Streiff, who is wheelchair-bound since an accident in Brazil in 1989 left him a quadriplegic, shared an update on his good friend during an interview on a French radio station.
"He is getting better but everything is relative," said Streiff. "It's very difficult. He can't speak. Like me, he is in a wheelchair paralyzed. He has memory problems and speech problems."
It was reported that Streiff was seen visiting Schumacher while he was at intensive care in Grenoble Hospital in France.
The seven-time world champion suffered a skiing accident on Dec. 29 last year. He was skiing with his son on a red piste, which is classed for intermediate skiers. But later it was reported that he skied to an off-piste site and hit a partially covered rock, where he smashed his head on a boulder.
Schumacher was then placed in an artificial coma and on April 4, his spokeswoman revealed that he was showing "moments of consciousness and awakening." He is now being cared for in a medical suite specially built for him at his home in Lake Geneva.
Meanwhile, a German publication is being slammed for publishing misleading photos about Schumacher's health condition. Die Aktuelle, a woman's lifestyle magazine, showed the F1 champion on its cover in sunglasses and a winter coat with the words, "What luck! He sits in the sun!"
The magazine has been accused of deceiving readers into believing that this is the first photograph of Schumacher since his accident last year. It also claims that the 45-year old is "pushed on to the terrace by his wife Corinna on mild autumn days" in his wheelchair. The photograph was actually taken in Switzerland on Jan. 26, 2013.
Motorsport.com criticized the magazine and said, "How low can you go: it seems that there is no limit for certain publications. The majority of readers will not notice the date of the photograph which is written in small typeface."
