A fan displays Ferrari flags on December 30, 2013 in front of the
Grenoble University Hospital Centre where Michael Schumacher, the
retired seven-time Formula One world champion, remained in a critical
condition after a skiing accident. PHOTO | PHILIPPE DESMAZES
AFP
GRENOBLE
Michael
Schumacher has undergone a second operation and his condition has
improved slightly following his horrific skiing accident, doctors said
at a news conference in Grenoble on Tuesday.
The
Formula One legend Michael Schumacher remains in a coma with his family
at his bedside after sustaining serious head injuries in Sunday's
accident at Meribel in the French Alps.
Medics have
warned it is touch-and-go for the German, the greatest champion in the
history of Formula One, as they wait for the full extent of his injuries
to become clear after he fell and slammed his head on a rock while
skiing off-piste on Sunday.
Schumacher's wife Corinne
and children Gina Maria and Mick were by his side and a small crowd held
a night vigil outside the an AFP reporter said.
A
source close to the investigation into the off-piste accident at the
posh ski resort of Meribel told AFP that Schumacher's helmet was smashed
"in two" by the impact.
The German newspaper Bild also quoted a rescuer as saying the split helmet was "full of blood".
Schumacher's
family in a statement expressed their thanks to the doctors who they
said were doing "everything possible to help Michael" and to
well-wishers around the world.
The family also asked
the press to "respect their privacy," in the statement put out by
Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm. (READ: Schumacher in coma after France ski accident)
TOO EARLY
Doctors
have said that Schumacher, who is due to turn 45 on January 3, has age
and physical fitness on his side but stressed it was too early to say if
he would pull through.
He has been put in a medically
induced coma to spur recovery. The coma reduces the patient's
temperature to around 35 degrees Celsius to reduce swelling.
By
being unconscious, the brain is also switched off to sounds, light and
other triggers that cause the organ to use up oxygen as it processes the
stimuli.
'WE ARE WORKING HOUR BY HOUR'
"He
is in critical condition, his condition can be described as life
threatening," Jean-Francois Payen, head of the intensive care unit, told
reporters.
"We are working hour by hour," he said.
News
of the accident stunned the world and racing stars joined German
Chancellor Angela Merkel and legions of fans in expressing their hopes
for his recovery.
Damon Hill, who fought several memorable on-track battles with Schumacher, said he was "praying" for his former rival.
Merkel was "extremely shocked" by the incident, her spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters.
Formula
One quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel, 26, who has said
Schumacher was his childhood idol, said: "I am shocked and I hope that
he'll be feeling better as soon as possible.
Schumacher,
who won the last of his world titles in 2004, towered over the sport
since his debut in 1991, winning more Formula One world titles and races
than any other. He had a record 91 wins and is one of only two men to
reach 300 grands prix.
His duels in his heyday with
Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, fired by an unquenchable competitive
spirit, have gone down in Formula One lore.
Schumacher
was born in January 1969 near Cologne, Germany, the son of a bricklayer
who also ran the local go-kart track, where his mother worked in the
canteen.
By 1987, Schumacher was the German and
European go-kart champion and was soon racing professionally. In 1991 he
burst into Formula One by qualifying seventh in his debut race in
Belgium and a year later, he won his first Formula One grand prix.
He
joined Ferrari in 1996 and went from strength to strength over the next
decade, dominating the podium, before retiring aged 37.
But
the father of two could not resist the lure of the track and in 2010 he
came out of retirement, signing a deal with Mercedes before quitting
for good in 2012.
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