Update: Michael Schumacher Is In A Wheelchair, Paralysed & Unable To Speak

Formula One legend, Michael Schumacher is paralysed and in a wheelchair, according to former racing driver Philippe Streiff. The seven-time champion cannot speak and has memory problems. Streiff, who is himself wheelchair-bound since a crash in Brazil during pre-season tests in 1989 left him a quadriplegic, was speaking on French radio.

The Frenchman, who is a good friend of Schumacher’s, said: “He is getting better but everything is relative. It’s very difficult. He can’t speak. Like me, he is in a wheelchair paralysed. He has memory problems and speech problems.”

Streiff, 59, was seen visiting Schumacher when the German was in intensive care in Grenoble Hospital, France. Schumacher, 45, was transferred to Lausanne Hospital, Switzerland, in June and he is now being cared for at his home on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said Streiff's comments were "his opinions" and she therefore did not want to comment. "He did not have contact with us." Ms Kehm has said it was “very hard” for his loved ones to comprehend how the racing car driver could have been so catastrophically injured in such a “banal situation”.

With an accumulated wealth estimated to be well over half-a-billion pounds, Schumacher’s family is well placed to provide the limitless care that will be needed in the coming years. This will include physiotherapists, to massage his atrophying joints, doctors, nutritionists, nurses and neurological experts.

Source: Mirror UK