Doctors treating Michael Schumacher have begun the process of gradually waking the former Formula One driver from his month-long coma, a French newspaper said Wednesday.
Schumacher has been kept in a medically induced coma since he suffered a severe head injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps on December 29.
According to sports daily L’Equipe, quoting a “source” at the hospital in Grenoble where Schumacher is being treated, the seven-time F1 world champion has now been placed in a “phase of progressive awakening”.
L’Equipe said Schumacher had so far “reacted positively” to the process.
Professor Jean-Luc Truelle, a former chief of neurology at the Foch Hospital near Paris, told the newspaper that the procedure to wake Schumacher should see his level of sedation gradually reduced until the 45 year-old is able to open his eyes.
Further tests
His communication skills would then be tested by asking him to perform a series of simple tasks such as opening and closing his eyes and shaking hands.
After his fall at the Meribel ski resort, in which Schumacher hit his head on a rock with an impact severe enough to split his helmet in two, surgeons at Grenoble University Hospital found “widespread lesions” on both sides of his brain and operated on him twice.
They decided to keep him in a coma to reduce the risk of further brain damage.
Doctors have not offered any new updates since January 17, when they described Schumacher’s condition as stable.
At the time, Schumacher’s spokesperson Sabine Kehm warned that “any information regarding Michael’s health not coming from the doctors treating him or from his management must be treated as pure speculation”.