News: Our prayers are still with Michael Schumacher & Tracy Morgan

Formula One legend Michael Schumacher is paralysed and in a wheelchair, who cannot speak and has memory problems, former racing driver Philippe Streiff said Wednesday.

"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, a good friend of Schumacher, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
Streiff is himself wheelchair-bound after suffering a crash in Brazil during pre-season tests in 1989.
The 45-year-old Schumacher suffered a ski accident in the French Alps December 29 last year, which left him brain damaged and fighting for his life.
The seven-time champion was transferred to Lausanne Hospital, Switzerland, in June this year and he is now being cared for at his home on the shores of Lake Geneva.

It’s been a long road back for Tracy Morgan after the June crash that left him and three others seriously hurt and killed comedian James McNair. Currently embroiled in a contentious lawsuit against Walmart (whose truck hit Morgan’s bus) as he continues to rehab, Morgan clearly has a lot on his plate as he tries to return to performing.

To hear his lawyer, though, it sounds like that may never happen.

The head injury Morgan suffered in the accident was severe enough that, according to lawyer Benedict Morelli, the comedian’s performing days may be over. “When you have a traumatic brain injury it takes a very long time to find out how you're going to do and how much you're going to recover,” Morelli said. “You just don't know. So that's where he is. He's still fighting and trying to live his life at the same time and trying to get better, and he's just not better. We're hoping and praying to get him back to where he was. But the jury's out.”

There is so much that isn’t known about the human brain, and how it responds to traumatic events. The way two people recover from the same injury can be totally different, so at this stage it’s still way too early to know what will become of Morgan’s flourishing and highly-successful career.

“He's fighting to get better, and if there's a chance for him to be back to the Tracy Morgan he once was, he's going to try to do that,” Morelli said. “But we just don't know because of the severity of the injuries that he sustained and the fact that he had such a severe brain injury.”

A judge is expected to determine the schedule for Morgan’s Walmart suit and criminal proceedings against Kevin Roper, the driver of the Walmart truck who prosecutors say had been awake for 24 straight hours at the time of the crash.