Michael Schumacher may never be able to get back to his previous self, according to leading neurosurgeon Erich Riederer. He called Schumacher's state "vegetative", where "he's awake but not responding". Riederer commented on Schumacher's state as an outsider in a documentary on the French television station TMC. Schumacher has been away from the public eye ever since his devastating skiing accident while he was on a holiday in the French Alps in 2013. The accident left him with severe brain injuries.
“He is breathing, his heart is beating, he can probably sit up and take baby steps with help, but no more. I think that's the maximum for him. Is there any chance of seeing him like he was before his accident? I really don't think so," Riederer said in an interview. However, it is not known whether the neurosurgeon visited Schumacher.
Last week, former Ferrari manager Jean Todt said had said that Schumacher was still in the fight to get better as his family stays by his side. “I saw Michael last week. He is fighting. My God, we know he had a terrible and unfortunate skiing accident which has caused him a lot of problems. But he has an amazing wife next to him, he has his kids, his nurses, and we can only wish him the best and to wish the family the best too. All I can do is to be close to them until I am able to do something, and then I will do it.," he said.
After the accident in 2013, Schumacher had two surgical interventions before he was put into a six-month long medically induced coma because of his traumatic brain injury. After spending 254 days in hospital, he returned to his home in Geneva, Switzerland, where he has been ever since.
It was also reported that Schumacher underwent stem cell surgery last September to revive his nervous system at the Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris but it is not known if the surgery happened.