Lindsey Vonn has revealed she has not stood on her own feet for over a week after undergoing four surgeries in the wake of her gruesome Winter Olympics leg break.
The American skiing legend, 41, suffered a complex tibia fracture following a horror crash at the Milan-Cortina Games earlier this month, before being airlifted to hospital.
The serious damage to Vonn’s leg forced her to undergo multiple surgeries in Italy before she returned home to the United States after her release from hospital on Sunday, with another op potentially still to come.
One knee specialist has even warned that some similar injuries have required amputation in the past.
While she is delighted to be back home, Vonn explained how she is still yet to return to her feet since the crash in Cortina.
‘Haven’t stood on my feet in over a week… been in a hospital bed immobile since my race. And although I’m not yet able to stand, being back on home soil feels amazing,’ the former Olympic champion wrote.
‘Huge thank you to everyone in Italy for taking good care of me’.
Vonn, who was competing in the women’s downhill with a torn ACL, lost control over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air.
She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter.
Despite the severity of her injury, a defiant Vonn suggested last week that she will one day take to the slopes again.
While she surely meant it in a recreational sense rather than trying once again to compete at the highest level, the iconic skier said: ‘Please, don’t feel sad. The ride was worth the fall. When I close my eyes at night I don’t have regrets and the love I have for skiing remains.
‘I am still looking forward to the moment when I can stand on the top of the mountain once more. And I will.’
She also explained that her fourth surgery on her leg had been a success, saying: ‘Surgery went well today! Thankfully I will be able to finally go back to the US!
‘Once I’m back I will give you more updates and info about my injury…. But until then, as I sit here in my bed reflecting, I have a few thoughts I’d like to share…’
Vonn then insisted that she didn’t want people pitying her after suffering such a horrifying leg break.
‘I have been reading a lot of messages and comments saying that what has happened to me makes them sad. Please, don’t be sad,’ she said. ‘Empathy, love and support I welcome with an open heart, but please not sadness or sympathy.
‘I hope instead it gives you strength to keep fighting, because that is what I am doing and that is what I will continue to do. Always.
‘When I think back on my crash, I didn’t stand in the starting gate unaware of the potential consequences. I knew what I was doing. I chose to take a risk. Every skier in that starting gate took the same risk.
‘Because even if you are the strongest person in the world, the mountain always holds the cards.’
