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Alex Zanardi Fighting Again


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#1 E1pix

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Posted 19 June 2020 - 19:01

With his long racing history, I hope it’s okay to post this here. I truly hope so as Alex has a lot of fans on TNF.

This is just so wrong:
https://apnews.com/a...YhUFQapDc4QQ6zM

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#2 Dave Ware

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Posted 19 June 2020 - 23:17

This is unsettling news.  On the one hand I put Zanardi up there with Lauda in terms of toughness.  On the other hand, head injuries are never a good thing. 

 

I will be hopeful that when this episode is over, Alex Zanardi will be at least mostly back to his old self. 



#3 Ray Bell

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 00:11

After seeing him walk again so soon after his big crash...

 

And then to do the laps to 'finish' that race...

 

Nothing would surprise me with this true champion.



#4 JacnGille

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 01:10

damn damn damn damn damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



#5 Rob Ryder

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 06:38

Why don't the good guys get any luck ? :|

 

Get well again Alex



#6 sabrejet

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 06:40

Thinking positive thoughts. Alex Zanardi is an extraordinary human being and an inspiration to us all.



#7 Michael Ferner

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 07:50

Pulling for you... :(



#8 Rediscoveryx

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 07:52

This doesn’t sound good. :(

#9 D-Type

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 10:06

Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.



#10 2F-001

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 12:08

Zanardi is such an irrepressible character that it's impossible to not like him. Fingers crossed for full recovery.


I saw him race at various times, firstly with the slightly odd 'Il Barone Rampante' in F3000, and then in the works-backed Esprit GT car. And then winning Olympic Gold at Brands Hatch in 2012. 

I still have some of his action-packed CART races on tape - time to dust off my VHS player...

 

 

(Edited to remove an irrelevance.)


Edited by 2F-001, 20 June 2020 - 15:15.


#11 arttidesco

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 14:48

Sending best wishes for a full recovery to an exceptional man.



#12 wolf sun

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Posted 20 June 2020 - 16:53

Damn. This is just wrong.

 

Forza Alex!!!



#13 E1pix

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Posted 21 June 2020 - 04:34

Still very early in the process, but an all-too-guarded update regardless:
https://www.autospor...n-after-surgery

#14 Richard Jenkins

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Posted 21 June 2020 - 07:41

Alex is one of my genuine inspirational heroes, not as a driver, but as a man. I don't have many. I can only hope he comes through this.

#15 10kDA

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Posted 22 June 2020 - 03:08

Prayers and best wishes for a full recovery, Alex.



#16 baz

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Posted 22 June 2020 - 10:37

Alex deserves the title HERO . He also deserves to live a long healthy life after what he has overcome in the past. I,m sure we all wish him a full and speedy recovery.



#17 E1pix

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Posted 23 June 2020 - 04:35

Update today:
https://www.autospor...rious-condition

#18 F1matt

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Posted 24 June 2020 - 10:02

It looks like Alex is in good hands and is hopefully on the road to recovery and will no doubt be back on his bike or behind the wheel of a racing car in the future. There is no stopping this man. 

 

As a sidenote why do the media (and doctors) have to compare every driver injury to Schumacher's? There is no need for it. 


Edited by F1matt, 24 June 2020 - 12:52.


#19 Ray Bell

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Posted 24 June 2020 - 11:54

That's right...

 

Why not Farina's?



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#20 E1pix

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Posted 24 June 2020 - 14:45

Matt, I’ve not personally seen any comparisons to Schumacher, but presume such comments are made because very few massive brain injuries realize a 100% recovery — regardless of victim history, spirit, or toughness.

That said, we all obviously hope Alex beats those odds.

#21 Richard Jenkins

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Posted 21 December 2020 - 22:15

Good news from Italy today (to counterbalance the sad news about Romolo Tavoni); 

 

From Motorsport com:

 

 

Former IndyCar star and Paralympic hero Alex Zanardi has made positive steps towards recovery and is responding to outside stimuli, according to an Italian media report.

 

The Corriere della Sera reports that Zanardi, who was badly injured in a handbike crash in June this year, is responding to voices with hand gestures having recovered his hearing and sight following a series of brain operations after his brutal accident. Zanardi, 54, remains hospitalized in the neurosurgical department of the hospital of Padua. The report says that he is able to shake hands and raise his thumb in response to questions.

 

 

It’s understood that he recognises his wife Daniela, who visits him every day, but cannot speak due to a hole in his throat that doctors have kept open as a precaution should he suffer any relapses in his recovery.  Doctors had to rebuild Zanardi’s skull and face after his massive impact with a truck, and they believe that he will regain the majority of his brain functions.

 

The man is incredible  :clap:



#22 Tim Murray

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Posted 21 December 2020 - 22:32

This is excellent news. I do so hope he’ll continue to improve.

#23 sabrejet

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Posted 21 December 2020 - 23:12

Some light at the end of a dark year where we haven't had too much to celebrate. He is indeed phenomenal.



#24 Ray Bell

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 02:55

And a tribute to medicos who've been overtaxed for most of the year too...



#25 ReWind

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 08:16

Obviously a different way of handling the public interest than the Schumacher family.



#26 Michael Ferner

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 10:31

Good news. Also sobering, though, given that there've been six months already. Shows just what a massive accident it was... :(



#27 guiporsche

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 11:35

Obviously a different way of handling the public interest than the Schumacher family.

 

Distasteful comment in a thread like this. But I take the bait and ask, and so what? Different individuals, different aftermaths of the trauma, different ways of coping with it. With injuries as grave as these families are well within their rights to decide what or when to report. Had Schumy's condition been appreciatively better surely they would tell so. And again, even if they don't, they are well within their rights to do. Sometime people will understand that it is not because someone had unrelentless public exposure for a number of years that the 'public' is entitled to know it all.

 

That said, forza Alex et tanti auguri di buona guarigione!



#28 Imperial

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 11:36

While I think it will be some years away, I am sure we'll see Alex appear somewhere, be it in press feature, or TV spot or something.

 

The man is a self-described 'eternal optimist', and we know he loves to share his passions and strength to inspire others, so he'll be back at some point to tell us all about it.  :)



#29 ReWind

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 14:38

Distasteful comment in a thread like this. But I take the bait and ask, and so what? Different individuals, different aftermaths of the trauma, different ways of coping with it. With injuries as grave as these families are well within their rights to decide what or when to report. Had Schumy's condition been appreciatively better surely they would tell so. And again, even if they don't, they are well within their rights to do. Sometime people will understand that it is not because someone had unrelentless public exposure for a number of years that the 'public' is entitled to know it all.

 

That said, forza Alex et tanti auguri di buona guarigione!

Nothing distasteful in my comment. Just a fact.

The Zanardi family chooses to keep the public informed. The Schumacher family chose not to do so.

No more than this in my comment.



#30 10kDA

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 15:06

Good news. May Alex's trend toward recovery continue.



#31 E1pix

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Posted 22 December 2020 - 17:43

Good news. Also sobering, though, given that there've been six months already. Shows just what a massive accident it was... :(

This is exactly my take, knowing what I know of brain injury.

Not trying to squelch any Hope here, not at all, but was hoping he was *much* further along by now. His looking at his wife for communication focus tells the reality. The recovery rate slows rapidly after injury onset, and there’s simply fading odds of any great recovery over time at this point.

Those realities stated, I do obviously hope the best for him... and his wife. She sounds like the perfect mate for him through this, and his odds of having a meaningful life again. While I have optimism for him, there is no blindness in those wishes.

Go Alex, GO!!!

#32 Vitesse2

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Posted 14 January 2021 - 11:17

Alex has now undergone several brain operations. Yesterday, it was revealed that he is now able to communicate with his family.

 

https://www.thedrive...-surgery-report

 

:up:



#33 Vitesse2

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Posted 14 January 2021 - 11:19

More detail (in Italian):

 

https://www.formulap...ery-542959.html



#34 Seppi_0_917PA

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Posted 02 May 2021 - 19:09

Zanardi's son: 'It's a long road, but little by little things are improving'

 

 

While the family is still in court dealing with a case against the truck driver, Zanardi's son Niccolo told La Repubblica the current status of his father's case.

"My father has been conscious for a few months now. Little by little his condition is improving. It's small steps and we know it's going to be a long road [to recovery], it's going to take a lot of time. Nobody can tell us what he will be able to do again, but it is getting better and better," Niccolo said.

https://www.gpblog.c...-improving.html



#35 SKL

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Posted 02 May 2021 - 21:00

If anyone can recover it is Alex...   last time I saw he and his son, his son was on his shoulders as he went to his car at the Road America race just a couple weeks before 911 and his accident...



#36 sabrejet

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Posted 03 May 2021 - 09:03

Alex's life story already reads like a totally implausible film script. It's difficult to describe the awful events in his life; even more difficult to express in words the way he has coped with them. Yes he's an inspiration, yes he is a bright light in a sometimes very dark world. But I have to admit I'm totally at a loss to properly describe any of it.

 

I just hope the film does him justice.



#37 alfredaustria

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Posted 01 July 2021 - 13:45

Here is a recent interview from today with Daniela, wife of Alex Zanardi:  

https://boxscorenews...-p161444-94.htm



#38 10kDA

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Posted 01 July 2021 - 21:38

Here is a recent interview from today with Daniela, wife of Alex Zanardi:  

https://boxscorenews...-p161444-94.htm

Incredible! But believeable. If anybody can recover It's Alex. He's got more comebacks than a yo-yo.



#39 Vitesse2

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Posted 20 December 2021 - 18:53

Alex is now out of hospital and back at home.

 

https://www.racefans...handbike-crash/



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#40 D-Type

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Posted 20 December 2021 - 19:22

He'll be home for Christmas.   :up:​