‘Only a miracle’ can save Schumacher

Michael Schumacher’s family have been told “only a miracle” can save the Formula One legend, according to reports.

Schumacher remains in a “wake-up phase” from the coma he was placed in following a life-threatening skiing accident nearly 10 weeks ago, his spokeswoman said.

The statement from Sabine Kehm was the first since February 13, when the Formula One legend’s family said they continued to strongly believe that he would recover.

Kehm said: “Michael is still in the wake-up phase.

“The situation has not changed. Any medical information published which is not confirmed by the team of doctors treating Michael or his management has to be considered as not valid.”

But several media outlets said sources close to Schumacher family say the 45-year-old driver’s wife Corinna and his brother, Ralf Schumacher, have been told by brain specialist his chances of full recovery are minimal.

“The family has been told that only a miracle can bring him back now,” a senior German journalist reporting on the Schumacher case was quoted as saying. “He is in a bad way but until the family issues a formal statement, we cannot publish anything,” he added.

Schumacher’s condition has been the subject of much speculation by media around the world but few details have been released by the medical team looking after him in the University clinic in the French Alpine city of Grenoble.

Reports that he had contracted pneumonia but beaten the lung infection in the first half of February have not been confirmed or denied.

Another German source said of the family: “Doctors have given it to them straight. Miracles sometimes happen but there is little hope that he will come out of this.”

“It does not bode well,” said Dr Tipu Aziz, professor of neurosurgery at Oxford University who is not connected to Schumacher’s care. “The fact that he hasn’t woken up implies that the injury has been extremely severe and that a full recovery is improbable.”

Two weeks ago, his friend and former teammate Felipe Massa was quoted as saying that Schumacher seemed to respond to him during a recent visit.

“He is sleeping, he looks normal and he showed a few responses with his mouth,” Massa told German tabloid Bild.

Schumacher was put into an induced coma after a December 29 accident in which he hit his head on a rock while skiing at the resort of Meribel with his son and a group of friends.