Ex-Formula One driver Michael Schumacher is getting better even though he is still paralysed and suffering from memory and speech problems, according to former Renault racer Philippe Streiff.
The 45-year-old German, who spent a total of nine months in two hospitals in Grenoble and Lausanne after sustaining a serious head injury following a freak skiing accident in the French Alps on 29 December 2013, is currently recovering in his family mansion in Gland, Switzerland.
And Streiff, who recently paid a visit to the seven-time Formula One Champion, gave an update on his friend's recovery progress
"He is getting better but everything is relative," said the 59-year-old, who is himself paralysed from neck down since being involved in a crash in 1989, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
"It's very difficult. He can't speak. Like me, he is in a wheelchair paralysed. He has memory problems and speech problems."
Meanwhile, Schumacher's spokesperson Sabine Kehm refused to acknowledge or dismiss Streiff's comments, insisting that those were his "his opinions", and he did "not have contact with" with them.
Earlier, there were debates as to whether Schumacher should have been discharged from the hospital or not considering his current condition.
But medical experts believe that moving from the hospital to a home environment will help the German make a quicker recovery.
"It gives hope," said Andreas Zieger, chief physician of the Neuro-rehabilitation Centre of the Evangelical Hospital of Oldenburg, according to the Mirror.
"A familiar domestic environment frequently supports the recovery of traumatic brain injury patients."
Professor Peter Vajkoczy, one of the leading surgeons in Berlin's world-renowned neuro-surgical clinic Charite Hospital, also agrees with Zieger, insisting that recovering at home will be beneficial for Schumacher.
"If financial resources allow for someone to create their own home rehabilitation facility complete with gym, and to bring the necessary medical staff and therapists to it, then that is certainly a possibility and could be beneficial," he said.
It is understood that Schumacher, who has an estimated wealth of more than half a billion pounds, is being cared by 15 medical professionals at his mansion in Gland, which now has a purpose-built mini-clinic.
