Schumacher arrives on a stretcher for pioneering hospital stem cell therapy
FORMULA One legend Michael Schumacher was expected to undergo pioneering stem cell therapy yesterday after surgery had been postponed due to an “unexpected health problem”.
Details of the 50-year-old’s treatment emerged after he was taken on a stretcher into the George Pompidou hospital in Paris on Monday.
The seven-times world champion has not been seen in public since suffering brain damage in a ski accident almost six years ago.
He is now in the care of Professor Philippe Menasche, a cardiac surgeon specialising in stem cell research, after two visits to Paris from his home in Switzerland over the summer.
According to Le Parisien newspaper, Schumacher was first seen by Prof Menasche, 69, at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital where he is a director of the Brain and Spinal Cord Institute, before being transferred.
The news outlet reported: “At the end of July, the driver was due to return for a new session at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital.
Secret
“But an unexpected health problem prevented this. The treatment was postponed to the beginning of this week.”
Schumacher was given stem cells because they have an antiinflammatory effect throughout the body, Le Parisien suggested.
Motor racing’s most successful driver, with 91 Grand Prix wins, hit his head on a rock as he skied off-piste with his son Mick, then aged 14, near Meribel in the French Alps on December 29, 2013.
Despite wearing a helmet, the German suffered a severe brain injury and spent months in a medically-induced coma.
He was soon displaying “moments of consciousness” and was gradually withdrawn from the coma, as medics reported “small encouraging signs”.
Le Parisien reported: “At 3.40pm on Monday a stretcher arrived on the first floor of the Georges Pompidou European Hospital.”
A blue cloth “completely covered his body and face” as Schumacher was taken into the monitoring unit of the cardiovascular surgery department.
He was surrounded by a security contingent “of about 10 people” after arriving in a blue and yellow ambulance registered in Geneva.
His treatment was expected to take several hours yesterday morning and he is due to return home today. Prof Menasche said details of Schumacher’s treatment would remain secret for patient confidentiality.
German Archbishop Georg Gansweinm, who has visited Schumacher and his family regularly, has said he is constantly looked after by his wife Corinna, 50, and their daughter Gina Marie, 22, and Mick, 20.
The Roman Catholic priest said last year: “He senses that loving people are around him caring for him and, thank God, keeping the overly curious public away.”