Paris: Afflicted seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher is in the Georges-Pompidou hospital in Paris for cell therapy surgery, according to the French daily Le Parisien.
The Paris hospital department, which AFP had contacted, declined to confirm or deny the news citing medical privacy laws. But according to Le Parisien, the 50-year-old German is in the cardiovascular department under the supervision of surgeon Philippe Menasche, described as a “pioneer in cell surgery for heart failure.”
Schumacher is given stem cells to have an anti-inflammatory effect throughout his system, Le Parisien suggests. “The treatment will start on Tuesday morning and (he will) leave the establishment on Wednesday,” said Le Parisien, who claims the former Ferrari star has already been treated there twice this spring.
The athlete was involved in a skiing accident in which his helmet broke in December 2013, and little information about his condition has been made public since then.
He was kept in an artificial coma for six months after the fall and was transferred from Grenoble hospital to Lausanne before being returned home in September 2014 where he is receiving private treatment.
Old friends have suggested that he cannot walk or communicate well.
Schumacher won his first world title 25 years ago and had won his first Grand Prix in 1992. His glory years were spent with Benetton and Ferrari, for whom he took the last of his 91 Grand Prix victories in China in 2006.
He retired from Mercedes in 2010 for a period of three years. Fans revere the determined German and his name was sung at the Monza circuit last weekend for Ferrari’s most successful Formula 1 driver Schumacher, with his son Mick, who is part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, in attendance.