Lindsey Vonn has revealed that her “muscles are gone,” following the surgery that prevented her leg from being amputated.
The 41-year-old’s Olympic return quickly turned into a nightmare after she crashed out of the women’s downhill event, just days after tearing her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). The crash at the Winter Games was so severe that Vonn had to be airlifted to hospital, with the decorated skier later disclosing that she had undergone multiple surgeries, one of which saved her leg from amputation.
Now back home and on the mend, Vonn recently took to social media to reveal the extent of her injuries. She posted a photo of her legs on Instagram, highlighting the significant muscle loss she has suffered as a result of the crash and subsequent surgeries.
Sharing on Instagram, Vonn uploaded a picture of her legs, captioning the image: “And just like that…. All my muscles are gone.”
The Team USA star also recently confessed that, in addition to facing a lengthy rehabilitation period, she is also mourning the loss of her dog, Leo.
Leo passed away from lung cancer a day after Vonn’s crash in Italy. Upon returning home, Vonn shared with her followers: “Feels good to sleep in my own bed… but wheeling through the front door without Leo greeting me like always was a very hard reality. A reality I had to face.”
She also said: “The day I crashed, so did Leo.”
The fact that Vonn was able to undergo surgery to prevent her leg from being amputated was almost miraculous in itself. Prior to the Winter Olympics, she had torn her ACL but chose to compete in Italy regardless.
If she hadn’t torn her ACL, then Dr Tom Hackett, the surgeon who operated on her leg after her crash, wouldn’t have been in Italy.
“I’ll give you the full rundown; basically, I had a complex tibia fracture. I also fractured my fibula head, my tibial plateau, just kind of everything was in pieces, and the reason why it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome,” Vonn explained.
“Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg. He prevented my leg from being amputated; he performed what’s called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg, essentially filleting it open.
“He let it breathe and he saved me… if I hadn’t torn my ACL, which I would have torn anyway with this crash, if I hadn’t done that, Tom wouldn’t have been there, he wouldn’t have been able to save my leg.”