Michael Schumacher Health Update: Racer 'Has Deteriorated' And Is 'Very Different', Says Neurosurgeon

It’s been six years since racing legend Michael Schumacher suffered serious injuries from a skiing accident. Throughout the ordeal, his family has closely guarded the racer’s privacy and chose to keep his medical condition as private as possible.

Fans sometimes hear about Michael Schumacher’s health update from time to time and they are generally positive as he makes his way to recovery. But a recent report from Daily Mail is a bit worrying as it claims that Schumacher “has deteriorated” and is now “very different.”

Daily Mail based its report on the statement of Nicola Acciari, a leading surgeon based on Bologna, Italy. While Schumacher is already out of the coma, Acciari reportedly said that the racer is now “a person very different from the one we remember on the track.”

Since the seven-time world champion’s condition stabilized, he has been under the care of his wife Corinna and their two children Gina-Marie and Mick and is recovering at his Lake Geneva mansion. Schumacher’s family has been notoriously private about the racer’s condition and has release minimal updates on his health since the accident.

That’s why Acciari’s recent statement is a bit jarring to fans who were under the impression that his health has been steadily improving. “We must imagine a person very different from the one we remember on the track, with a very altered and deteriorated organic, muscular and skeletal structure,” the surgeon told Italian newspaper Contro Copertina, according to Daily Mail.

The surgeon explained that the changes in Schumacher are due to the serious brain injury he received when his head smashed into a rock in the December 2013 skiing accident. “All as a result of the brain trauma he suffered,” Acciari added.

The surgeon’s statement came just months after Schumacher’s former manager at Ferrari Jean Todt visited the racer in his home and watched Grand Prix with him on television. “I saw the race together with Michael Schumacher at his home in Switzerland,” Todt said.

“Michael is in the best hands and is well looked after in his house,” Todt added. “He does not give up and keeps fighting. His family is fighting just as much and of course, our friendship cannot be the same as it once was just because there's no longer the same communication as before.”