Sports
German ice hockey professional paralyzed from the neck down after a violent check
Mike Glemser in the hospital
© Gofundme, Starbulls
Ice hockey is considered a robust and sometimes dangerous sport. After an incident at a game, German ice hockey pro Mike Glemser is now almost completely paralyzed from the neck down.
Heavy checks and clashes with the gang are actually part of the daily routine at ice hockey games. For the German ice hockey professional Mike Glemser, such a collision now has serious consequences: He is paralyzed from the neck down.
Glemser used to play in the German U20 national team, in the club he played for the Starbulls Rosenheim. The bad incident happened there during a game against SC Riessersee/Garmisch-Partenkirchen: In the ninth minute, Glesmer crashed first with an opponent and then with the gang. What in most cases ends lightly, Glemser this time required several minutes of treatment while still on the ice.
Mike Glemser: Father reports on the condition of the paralyzed ice hockey professional
The full extent of the accident only became clear in the hospital: two vertebrae in the cervical spine were broken, Glemser had to undergo multiple operations and was in an artificial coma for ten days.
Despite the doctors’ efforts, Glemser is now paralyzed from the neck down, as his father Kenneth Glemser told Bayerischer Rundfunk: “In the upper area, only the biceps stand is now, means no hands, no wrists, nothing works in the leg area, everything is completely paralyzed .” The reason for this is that the accident also severely damaged the spinal cord.
In addition to motor skills, the consequences of the accident are even potentially life-threatening, because according to Starbulls Rosenheim, the ability of the diaphragm to breathe is also affected by the paralysis, so Glemser still has to be artificially ventilated. A first goal is now that Glemser can move around in a wheelchair again.
He receives support from his association and his family: together they launched a fundraising campaign that has already reached its goal of 250,000 euros in the first 24 hours. It now stands at more than 415,000 euros.