Michael Schumacher Health Condition News Update: Doctor and Manager Both Deny Claims

The surgeon who treated ace Formula One driver Michael Schumacher has denied a report that claimed that the German racer was beginning to recognize his family and close friends.

Dr. Gerard Saillant was the doctor who treated Schumacher after he was gravely injured during a freak skiing accident in the French Alps on Dec. 29, 2013. Schumacher, a very able skier, hit his head on a rock, which left him brain damaged and fighting for his life. The force of the blow destroyed his ski helmet. He was in a coma for six months. He was treated in intensive care in Grenoble Hospital, France, before being transferred to Lausanne Hospital in Switzerland. He is now under care at his own home on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Earlier this year, Philippe Streiff, a fellow former Formula One driver, was quoted as saying that Schumacher was "...beginning to recognize his family, his wife and his children, but has big memory problems."

He was further quoted as saying that Schumacher had "very limited" movement, but might one day walk on crutches.

Schumacher also reportedly shed tears at the sound of his family's voices – his kids, his wife. The sources claimed that this was a sign that he was making very good progress.

However, Saillant and Schumacher's manager Sabine Kehm poured cold water on all these positive speculations, saying the reports that came out on Schumacher's current condition could not be confirmed.

Kehm said more than a year after the skiing accident, Schumacher is still faced with a hard fight that may take a long time to win. "He is making progress appropriate to the severity of the situation," she said even as she questioned news items coming out that Schumacher was making progress cognitively.

Kehm said she could not confirm those reports, because Streiff had not had any contact with them and that the sources of his comments are not clear.

In other news, Schumacher's Norwegian holiday home had reportedly been sold. Before the accident, this was the place where Schumacher and his family went to when they wanted to enjoy winter sports. The family confirmed that the decision to sell was already made before the accident and that he accident and the current condition of Schumacher had little to do with the sale.