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Michael Schumacher’s doctor predicts long road to recovery

Former Mercedes F1 driver Michael Schumacher of Germany pauses during a news conference in Suzuka, Japan on Oct. 4, 2012.
Former Mercedes F1 driver Michael Schumacher of Germany pauses during a news conference in Suzuka, Japan on Oct. 4, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Shizuo Kambayashi

PARIS – A French physician who treated Michael Schumacher for nearly six months after the Formula One champion struck his head in a ski accident says he is no longer in a coma and predicted a possible recovery within three years.

Jean-Francois Payen, a doctor at the Grenoble hospital that treated Schumacher after his injury in December 2013, said he has visited the Schumacher family at home in Switzerland to track his patient’s progress.

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“Life after a head injury is punctuated by stages,” Payen told RTL radio on Thursday. He predicted a convalescence of one to three years. “We hope, but we have to give him time.”

Schumacher was with his 14-year-old son in the French Alps when he fell, hitting the side of his head on a rock, cracking his helmet.

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