A Derry man who was treated in the same hospital as Michael Schumacher after sustaining horrific injuries in a similar skiing accident has said the Formula One racer was “in the best possible place.”
Damien Gill… had to learn to walk again.
The 44-year-old German is in an induced coma in intensive care at the University of Hospital of Grenoble, after hitting his head on a rock in a crash on Sunday in the resort of Meribel in the French Alps.
Doctors, who carried out emergency brain surgery on the seven times F1 world champion, said he would have been killed if he had not been wearing a helmet.
Damien Gill (53) was treated in the same hospital after sustaining horrific injuries after crashing and hitting a rock while skiing in February this year.
Like the F1 racing legend, he survived because he was also wearing a helmet.
However, while he did not suffer a head injury he sustained horrific injuries including four broken vertebrae and a broken pelvis from which he is still recovering.
The accident occurred while Damien, from the Collon area of Derry and vice-principal of Colaiste Feirste in Belfast, was skiing with his eldest son Eoghan in the resort of Tignes – a regular trip for the pair.
After being brought down from the mountain to a local medical centre, Damien was transferred to the Grenoble Hospital where he underwent emergency surgery.
Following a week in the French hospital, doctors allowed the father of two to be flown by air ambulance to Dublin Airport from where he was taken by ambulance to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.
Damien recalled: “The doctors in the Royal were very impressed at the surgery the French surgeons had carried out. They said they had done an excellent job. Michael Schumacher is in the best possible place.”
He added: “When I saw the size of the dent in the helmet I was wearing I feel really lucky especially since Schumacher has suffered such a serious injury considering he also was wearing a helmet.
“One of the keys to survival is the speedy response of the medial teams on the mountainside. That then is followed up by the specialists who are vastly experienced in dealing with ski accident injuries.”
Damien, a keen cyclist and member of North Belfast Harriers athletics club who ran in last year’s Dublin Marathon, had to learn to walk again and is still undergoing physiotherapy.
But he has conceded his skiing and marathon days are over.
He said: “I was laid up for weeks and on crutches for several months. But I have made good progress. I am back at work and able to cycle again. But skiing and marathons are definitely out.”
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