Ten days after a horrific crash near the end of the World Cup downhill at Mont-Ste-Anne, Australian downhiller John Waddell remained unconscious in a Québec City hospital. According to a report sent out by Waddell’s ITS-Santa Cruz team director, Derin Stockton, Waddell still needs no outside assistance for his breathing and is in stable condition.

“He has been checked out by a few different neurosurgeons, and there are a few different opinions,” wrote Stockton in an e-mail. “One doctor thinks now that it could be up to a month until he wakes up. He could still wake up in the next few days, but it could be longer. Because of the length of time it could be until he wakes up, they have classified his condition as a coma.

“Because of this, [it has been] decided to transport him to Australia as soon as possible. It will take 5-7 days to organize all of his travel arrangements. Flying and the pressurization of the cabin is not an issue due to the fact that he has no brain swelling. As soon as he wakes up he will begin his therapy working with the doctors, and he will have the best doctors available to him in Australia.

“There were rumors on the Internet that he had brain swelling, which is completely untrue. His CAT-scan results have been the same or better since the moment he arrived at the hospital, and he did not have any brain swelling.

“There were also some Internet rumors that the hospital had induced him into a coma to stabilize him, which is also untrue. As I explained before, they did give him some medication to ease his agitation, so that he wouldn’t pull his tubes out, but nothing more than that.

“There is another rumor that he is paralyzed on his left side. This is untrue. John can still move all of his arms and legs. He does have trauma on the right side of his brain, which controls the left side of his body. Because of this his left side has been less responsive than his right. The doctors said that this is common, and just like any other injury, his use will come back with physical therapy.”

Anyone who wants to send well wishes to Waddell may address them to:

John Waddell
86 Gerald Street
Spearwood
Western Australia
6163

All of us at VeloNews wish Waddell and his mother a safe trip home and a speedy recovery.