Michael Schumacher would recognize his relatives – BBC Sport

SPORT SCAN – According to Philippe Streiff, friend of the German pilot, the seven-time world champion also suffer large memory problems

Former Formula 1 driver now quadriplegic after having a serious accident in a car in 1989, Philippe Steiff is also a friend of Michael Schumacher. The Isère went to the bedside of the German when he was hospitalized at the University Hospital of Grenoble after his very serious fall in Meribel ski December 29, 2013.

“He still has not regained the power of speech, and communicates with the eyes. It still begins to recognize his own, his wife and children, but it has big memory problems. “

Photo credits: Inside / Panoramic / Inside / Panoramic

In an interview with Le Parisien on Sunday, Streiff gave some encouraging news about his friend’s health. Advances are there even if the sequelae to trauma and long coma (he was released in mid-June) are very heavy. “He still has not regained the power of speech, and communicates with the eyes. It still begins to recognize his own, his wife and children, but it has big problems with memory, “says Philippe Streiff who has reliable sources.

The former pilot revealed keep abreast of developments in the re-education through Professor Gerard Saillant, brain specialist and sports medicine and friend of Schumacher. “I am also in contact with Corinna, wife of Michael,” said Streiff, who had already spoken on convalescence champion there a few weeks.

If he is worried about of sequelae, the native of La Tronche is hopeful that “Schumi” recovers some of his faculties. “To the memory, perhaps. (…). In a hospital, in an informal room with nurses that we do not know, it’s very difficult to find the markers. That’s partly why he was taken home to be in a familiar environment and try to recover her memory much faster. “

“Michael started working on it. In the long term, and ideally, it may be able to hope to one day walk on crutches because his spinal cord was not damaged. “

Streiff recognizes, however, that the Germany currently has almost no motor ability. “Michael started working on it. In the long term, and ideally, it may be able to hope to one day walk on crutches because his spinal cord was not damaged. But we can not say anything, predict anything, “he said, before concluding with a less optimistic note about Jules Bianchi was seriously injured at the Grand Prix of Japan at the beginning of October and out of the coma in November.

More disturbing news for Bianchi

The news is “much more disturbing,” said the former pilot who believes that the Frenchman is in a more worrying that the former world champion. “The shock was much more violent than Michael Schumacher, and it was found diffuse axonal injury in his brain. This is an extremely serious head injury. The hope of recovery is much less important than Schumacher, “he concludes.