Just over a year ago, a new nightmare started for Alex Zanardi. The living legend and BMW Ambassador was heavily injured during one of his practice runs in Italy, crashing head-first into a truck at considerable speed. Luckily, Zanardi was quickly transported to a nearby hospital and he managed to pull through. A few days later, he started a long and tedious road to recovery.
It’s been a few months since we last heard any news about his condition and his wife, Daniella, decided to offer some insight into the recovery process via an interview with BMW. According to her, his condition is now stable and Alex is currently in a special clinic, where he is undergoing a rehabilitation program.
Due to the large extent of the injuries he sustained, he has to be under the guidance of doctors, physiotherapists and neuropsychologists all the time. Furthermore, he needs training from speech therapists too as he can communicate but cannot currently speak.
“After a long time in a coma, the vocal cords must regain their elasticity,” Daniella Zanardi said. “This is only possible through practice and therapy,” she added. Alex apparently still has a lot of strength in his arm and hands even after spending a lot of time in a coma, and he is training intensively on the equipment at the moment. Even so, his road to a full recovery is long and he will have to do what he knows best: fight.
If there’s anyone out capable of recovering from such an accident, it is most likely Alex Zanardi. He is the one who made an incredible comeback to racing after losing his legs in a fiery crash in 2001. He didn’t just get back behind the wheel of proper racing cars, he also became one of the most successful handcycling racers, a Paralympic gold medalist and a living legend in the process.
