Christian Neureuther
“My brain was no longer working properly”
Rosi Mittermaier and Christian Neureuther
© Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
The last few months have not been easy for Christian Neureuther: The skiing legend was bitten by a tick in the summer and contracted early summer meningoencephalitis, a serious disease of the brain and meninges that is life-threatening.
“I was damn lucky. I hadn’t noticed the tick bite myself. It wasn’t until a few weeks after the wood was cut that I wasn’t feeling well. I thought it was shingles. When our son pressured me, I went to the Garmisch hospital,” says Christian Neureuther , 72, now in an interview with “Bild am Sonntag”.
Christian Neureuther on his dangerous tick bite
Meningitis was then diagnosed in the hospital. “I have no memory of the first week. I was completely apathetic, had impaired consciousness and probably also a fever,” recalls Neureuther, who also had to struggle with speech disorders during this time. During this time, his family did not leave his side, his wife Rosi Mittermeier, 71, and son Felix Neureuther, 37, looked after the sick person day and night.
Christian Neureuther, Felix Neureuther and Rosi Mittermaier
© Hannes Magerstaedt / Getty Images
After that he had to change the hospital. “I then came to the neurological department at Innsbruck Clinic. My brain was no longer working properly,” said Christian Neureuther. “Everything swam from left to right in front of my eyes. The dizziness was insane. At night when I had to go to the toilet, it really hit me against the wall. I couldn’t stand upright.”
“We as a family said: we can do it”
After three weeks in hospital, he had to go to a rehabilitation clinic at Thiersee / Austria – again for three weeks. He still has side effects: “To this day, I still have severe back pain. Turning my head is still not easy for me.” He has also lost six kilograms.
Nevertheless, the 72-year-old looks positively into the future. “I firmly believe that the psyche also helps and heals a lot,” said Neureuther in the “Bild” interview. He gets support from his beloved family: “We as a family said: We can do it. I had the very best doctors, my Rosi, our children and the grandchildren.”
Source used: bild.de