Last month, during a handbike race, BMW Brand Ambassador Alex Zanardi crashed into oncoming traffic, suffering life-threatening injuries. The living legend has been hospitalized ever since and he is still in an induced coma at the moment.
According to Reuters, Zanardi underwent complex facial reconstruction surgery earlier this week. This was the third operation the 53-year old underwent following his crash on June 19 in Siena.
The local hospital issued a press release saying his surgery took 5 hours and that it was successful. “The patient has undergone a new surgery aimed at cranial-facial reconstruction and stabilization of the areas affected by the trauma. The fractures were complex,” said Professor Paolo Gennaro, director of the Siena university hospital’s maxillofacial surgery unit, in a statement.
“This required careful programming that made use of computerized, digital and three-dimensional technologies, made to measure of the patient. The complexity of the case was rather singular, even if it is a type of fracture that we routinely face in our center,” he added.
If anyone can pull through from this accident, that would be Zanardi. The iconic sportsman lost both his legs in a racing accident back in 2001 and not only did he make a comeback and won several other races afterwards, but also went into the Paralympics and won four gold medals.
He’s also a very well known competitor in various endurance competitions and even set a couple of records. Everyone in the racing industry is praying for him. BMW raced this weekend wearing #forzaalex hashtags on their cars, while Ferrari did the same on Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.
