Seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher has signed a helmet which is being sold by Sir Jackie Stewart to help raise funds for his Race Against Dementia charity
Michael Schumacher has managed to sign a helmet with the assistance of his wife Corinna, which is set to be auctioned for charity.
The Formula 1 icon, who needs constant care following a devastating skiing accident in December 2013, inscribed his initials ‘MS’ on the special white and tartan helmet.
The helmet will be displayed at the Bahrain Grand Prix this Sunday before being sold to raise funds for the Race Against Dementia charity, established by Sir Jackie Stewart after his wife Helen’s diagnosis with the condition.
Stewart, 85, plans to drive his 1973 championship-winning Tyrrell car around the track ahead of the race.
“It is wonderful that Michael could sign the helmet in this worthy cause – a disease for which there is no cure,” Sir Jackie told the Daily Mail. “His wife helped him, and it completed the set of every single champion still with us.”
Schumacher’s life suddenly changed when he was skiing through an off-piste area of the French Alps and hit an exposed rock, before being flung into another rock 10 metres away which struck his helmet.
His helmet was cracked in two by the impact but he was initially conscious. Michael, who was 44 at the time, was unable to answer questions coherently and displayed ‘erratic’ behaviour. Medics called for an air extraction as he was airlifted to hospital at Moutiers, before being transferred to a specialist trauma unit in Grenoble.
The seven-time champion was placed in a medically induced coma and allowed to return home the following September, but has not appeared in public since. He continues to require round-the-clock care from his wife Corinna and a team of medical professionals.
The Stewart family has also experienced its own fair share of medical tragedy in recent years. Helen, Sir Jackie’s wife of more than 60 years, was diagnosed with dementia in 2014 and her condition has steadily worsened over the years.
Last week, he revealed the heart-wrenching moment Lady Helen forgot who he was for the first time. Speaking to the BBC, the Scot said: “Just the other day it was time for dinner, she’s getting up and I’m sitting close by, and she says, ‘Where’s Jackie?’ That’s the first time that’s happened and that’s only a few weeks ago.
“A bad feeling came over me.” He went on to say that his wife’s mind is in “a new world” and that she is now no longer able to walk on her own as a result of her condition.
The ex-Formula One champion also discussed the challenges posed by ‘sundowning,’ a symptom of dementia where the sufferer becomes agitated later in the day as their brain grows tired. Reflecting on its effect on Lady Helen, he said: “I know that Helen doesn’t mean it when she suddenly goes round and hits me, or the nurses.
“She can hit somebody quite often, she uses language that she’s never ever said in her life and it comes like that [clicks his fingers] and I say, ‘darling, darling, don’t say that’. She says ‘why?’ And she’ll give me a row for doing that. That’s usually after 17:00.”
In contrast to Sir Jackie’s openness about Lady Helen’s condition, details surrounding Schumacher’s health have been kept under tight wraps. Schumacher’s wife, Corinna, has made it her mission to safeguard her husband’s privacy, allowing only a handful of closely trusted individuals access to him.
