Lindsey Vonn has disclosed that she came perilously close to losing her left leg following her devastating crash at the Winter Olympics downhill event in Cortina d’Ampezzo a fortnight ago.
The 41-year-old American skiing legend shared the harrowing details in an Instagram video posted on Monday, revealing the true severity of her injuries.
“Dr Tom Hackett saved my leg, he saved my leg from being amputated,” Vonn stated.
The 2010 Olympic champion, widely regarded as the second most successful female World Cup skier in history, suffered the accident just 13 seconds into her run on 8 February.
Lindsey Vonn has thanked her doctor for “saving her life” after nearly losing her leg
|Vonn explained that she developed compartment syndrome, a serious condition where excessive trauma causes blood to accumulate in one area of the body.
“It basically crushes everything in the compartment – muscles, nerves, tendons, it all dies,” she said.
Dr Hackett, an orthopaedic surgeon working for Team USA, performed an emergency fasciotomy to address the life-threatening complication.
“He did what is called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg, let it breathe, and he saved me,” Vonn explained.
The procedure was followed by a six-hour reconstructive operation, which Vonn described as having gone “amazingly well”.
Lindsey Vonn recently left hospital to return to the United States after her awful crash at the Winter Olympics | REUTERSVonn’s hospital stay extended beyond initial expectations owing to complications from significant blood loss during her multiple surgeries.
“I was in the hospital a little longer than I hoped because I had very low haemoglobin from the blood loss from all the surgeries,” she revealed. “I was really struggling, the pain was a little bit out of control and I had to have a blood transfusion.”
The transfusion proved a turning point in her recovery.
After spending nearly a fortnight confined to a hospital bed with extremely limited mobility, the skiing star has now been transferred to a hotel.
“It’s not home yet, but it’s a huge step!” Vonn wrote on Instagram.
Vonn currently relies on a wheelchair for mobility, a necessity compounded by a broken right ankle sustained alongside her leg injuries.
She anticipates transitioning to crutches within the coming weeks, though expects to depend on them for a minimum of two months.
Lindsey Vonn was airlifted to hospital after her crash, with the skier sustaining a broken leg | GETTYThe full healing process for her fractured bones will require approximately twelve months.
Following that period, Vonn faces a decision regarding whether to undergo additional surgery to remove the metal hardware from her leg, after which she would finally address her torn ACL.
Lindsey Vonn crashed while competing at the Winter Olympics with a serious ACL injury | REUTERSDespite the ordeal, Vonn expressed no regrets about her comeback attempt after six years away from competitive skiing.
“I wish it had ended differently, but I’d rather go down swinging than not try at all,” she said.