Former race champion Michael Schumacher has recently been moved out of the intensive care and into a rehabilitation ward at the Genoble University hospital.
This recent development first broke on Friday via popular German celebrity magazine, Bunte, which described Schumacher's condition as being "out of danger". Even so, the magazine cautioned that the 45-year-old's "chances of full recovery have dropped."
Bunte's report did not include comments from manager Sabine Kehm, who the Schumacher family designated as official spokesperson.
Earier in April, Kehm had told the press that Schumacher was going through the "wake up" process. Then in May, she dimissed reports that Schumacher had been moved to a rehabilitation ward. Since then, neither Kehm nor the Schumacher family has spoken on matters concerning Schumacher's recovery.
Just last week, former team boss Flavio Briatore expressed concern with the recent silence over at the Schumacher family, in an interview with Italian Radio 24.
"I'm quite afraid, and virtually certain, we will never have any good news about Michael," Briatore told Radio 24. "There is no news because the family is very closed."
Briatore's worries were mirrored by an earlier statement from former F1 doctor Gary Harstein, who blogged last week about Schumacher's condition.
"I'm still considering that if there were good news to be had, we'd have been told," Harstein wrote on his blog. "I can conceive of no possible reason that Michael's entourage...would not tell his fans if significantly good things have happened."
Schumacher is being treated for life-threatening head injuries sustained in a December 2013 skiing accident at the exclusive Meribel ski resort in the French Alps. The official police report stated that the racing legend had gone off the official piste before hitting his head on a rock.
Doctors made the decision to artificially place the seven-time world champion in a coma to reduce the possibility of a fatal brain hemorrhage during treatment. Since then, Schumacher remains in a vegetative state, leading caretakers to fear the condition may be permanent.
Based on reports from the medical profession, the chances a coma patient regains consciousness significantly reduces over time. Officially, Schumacher's condition has been listed as stable, but critical.
A few days ago, German television RTL released a special segment about current efforts to save Schumacher. German tennis star Boris Becker was amongst those interviewed for the program.
"We cannot imagine what [Schumacher's wife] Corinna and the children have been going through since the accident," Becker had said.
"They have built a protective wall around him. It's been very quiet but this is the only way to cure him."
