The 5th of January 2011 Philip Wanner was training GS in at the small local hill up in Seefeld, suddenly he caught an edge & skied with out control straight into the woods & crashed badly. His coach & his father (Walter Wanner) were the first ones there. But when they arrived Philip was not conscious & he was not Breathing. They how ever managed to bring him back to life & the Helicopter came within 4 minutes, so Philips life could be saved! At the Hospital Philip was in a coma for quite some while & things were not looking good. At one point the Doctors did not see any purpose of keeping him alive, the odds for Philip making it back were actually non. But his family refused to give up & his parents stayed at him at all time, giving him deep tissue massage & talking to him. After a while Philip woke up!
Today it was a big gathering in Seefeld for Philip, to show the support & celebrate Philips recovery! I think every person living in Seefeld was there, incuding Benni Raich, Niki Hosp, Fritz Dopfer, Freddie Nyberg, me & 2 world class ski jumpers Schlierenzauer & Kofler.
The Öamtc showed how they had rescued Philip & brought him to hospital! Impressive how fast they were!
Now Philip can almost walk & he can talk & understand people. I can´t believe how much progress he has done since its only been a 8 months!
His father Walter asked Philip on the stage in front of the crowd…
Walter-” Philip, what do you want to do??
Philip-” I want to ski & I want to ski like Freddie!
I guess skiing took Philip down, but I hope & think that it will help him get back in business!
I guess its important to sometimes get a reminder that ski racing is not everything in life, the most important thing is to stay healthy & happy!
Tomorrow I leave for Saas Fee, can´t wait!
/Hans