Michael Schumacher Awakens From Coma, Blinks, & Responds to Instructions

 “After gradually reducing the sedation of the patient, the team of Professor Emmanuel Gay [the medic overseeing Schumacher’s treatment] has been doing neurological tests since Monday. During this first stage, the patient blinked.” – L’equipe Newspaper

Sky News quoted sources saying Schumacher was “responding to instructions”.  If Michael is responding to instructions and blinking, these are very good signs.

7 time Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher sustained a traumatic brain injury while skiing at Meribel ski resort in France on December 29th, 2013.  Doctors medically induced a coma to protect Michael’s brain and control swelling.  He was wearing a helmet at the time of the ski crash.

Schumacher received two brain surgeries during his coma to remove blood clots around his brain.  The medication that was keeping 45-year-old Michael sedated had been gradually reduced to allow him to awaken.

RIght now, experts and doctors aren’t confident that Michael will return to his ‘old self.’

But the BBC has spoken with “two experts — Professor Gary Hartstein, Formula 1’s chief medic between 2005 and 2012, and Mr. Colin Shieff, neurosurgeon at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London”:

“Both Hartstein and Shieff believe it will be difficult for Schumacher to return to the same level of health he had before his accident.

” ‘It is extremely unlikely, and I’d honestly say virtually impossible, that the Michael we knew prior to this fall will ever be back,’ Hartstein said. …

“Shieff agreed that outcome was ‘extremely unlikely.’

” ‘It is generally accepted that the longer a patient is in a reduced state of consciousness, the less likely they are to make a good recovery,’ he said. ‘It is still possible to regain consciousness, but this is far from certain.’ ” – BBC