MovieChat Forums > The Crash Reel (2013) Discussion > Michael Schumacher

Michael Schumacher

posted 10 years ago by johnjackson11
2 replies | jump to latest

Firstly, just wanted to say what an absolutely amazing documentary. Cool, humorous, emotional, heartfelt and touching. I think this movie deserves massive credit for tackling the issue of brain injured people and making us so much more aware.

A quote that stuck with me from Kevin Pearse was when he said he woke up from the coma some 23 days before the olympics and thought he still had a chance of competing for a medal. 2 years later he was still very far away from being close to making a full recovery. And that's how i used to see brain injuries before this documentary. Naively I thought that after making it through the critical stage of an accident - that the patient would make a full recovery and be back to normal in a few months. It was really eye opening to learn how all these people who have one brain injury have a second and sometimes a third.

Just thought the current status of Michael Schumacher was worth a mention. His accident happened before I watched this and I just expected that someone like him would just pull through. Now I know that if he does eventually wake up he has a long road of recovery ahead and even then the chances of it being the same man who comes back is tiny.

[–] tooks 10 years ago

Thanks for that! As a brain injury survivor (9 years post - injury), there are words that I frequently hear that stand out, and not in a good way. One is "recover". Sadly, one does not recover from a brain injury. Once the brain is injured, it's injured for the rest of your life. That's not to say that people can't make tremendous gains after sustaining a closed-head injury, but a brain injury never heals. Extreme fatigue, depression, chronic pain, and depression are some of the less-obvious, but very real, and very common symptoms of brain injury. Something else that people often don't understand is that rehab gains are measured in years, not days, weeks, or even months. This isn't necessarily a bad thing , though. I've often heard that cognitive improvements post-brain injury usually plateau at around. 2 years. This has been untrue for me as I was still making significant cognitive gains at four and five years post injury. I also find that challenging myself to learn new things has kept me sharp. If I do not work at learning something, I will stagnate and my cognitive function does start to go backwards.
This was a wonderful post to read , and I thank you for empathizing !

[–] BonkersBlake 10 years ago

Great to read the positivity guys, I'm the partner of a TBI patient with still a very long way to go. Watched this film today and brought back so much of what we've been through already although it's nice to know we're not alone. Fantastic film and bringer of hope, however dangerous that may be.

(Chromatids, chromatids, chromatids amen!)