Pessotto 'breathing on his own'
Sunday 2 July, 2006
Gianluca Pessotto’s condition continues to improve, as doctors confirm he is starting to come off the ventilator and interacting with people around him.
“He is still intubated, but last night we began to lower the level of the ventilator, so in part he is breathing unaided,” explained doctor Pierpaolo Donadio. “Let’s say that he is dictating the tempo of the breaths and that the machine is helping him, but his body is responding well. Over the next few days we hope to take him off the ventilator completely.”
The recently retired Italian international and Juventus Team Manager has been in critical condition at Turin’s Molinette hospital since falling from a window at the club headquarters in an apparent suicide attempt on Tuesday morning.
Medics warn they cannot yet say if he will survive the fall and he has already undergone three operations to reduce multiple fractures and internal bleeding, but on Saturday he was briefly taken out of an induced coma to check his responses.
“He opened his eyes and squeezed a hand. Now he can follow simple orders, moves his eyes and shows signals he can understand what is being said. Our objective is to slowly bring him to a state where he won’t feel pain even with only a small dose of sedatives. He’ll remain sleepy, but beginning to breath autonomously.”
His wife Reana has been at his bedside since the fall and thanked the 20,000 fans who marched through Turin yesterday in a joint show of 'Juventus Pride’ and support for Pessotto.
“I was very happy to see this show of affection, as I know everyone cares so much about Gianluca,” she told Sky Italia. “He did open his eyes and made a face, so we’re hopeful.”
The former player had been suffering from depression and was afraid he wasn’t yet up to the job of Juventus Team Manager. He was clutching a rosary in his hand when he fell from a height of around 15 metres.
Sunday 2 July, 2006
Gianluca Pessotto’s condition continues to improve, as doctors confirm he is starting to come off the ventilator and interacting with people around him.
“He is still intubated, but last night we began to lower the level of the ventilator, so in part he is breathing unaided,” explained doctor Pierpaolo Donadio. “Let’s say that he is dictating the tempo of the breaths and that the machine is helping him, but his body is responding well. Over the next few days we hope to take him off the ventilator completely.”
The recently retired Italian international and Juventus Team Manager has been in critical condition at Turin’s Molinette hospital since falling from a window at the club headquarters in an apparent suicide attempt on Tuesday morning.
Medics warn they cannot yet say if he will survive the fall and he has already undergone three operations to reduce multiple fractures and internal bleeding, but on Saturday he was briefly taken out of an induced coma to check his responses.
“He opened his eyes and squeezed a hand. Now he can follow simple orders, moves his eyes and shows signals he can understand what is being said. Our objective is to slowly bring him to a state where he won’t feel pain even with only a small dose of sedatives. He’ll remain sleepy, but beginning to breath autonomously.”
His wife Reana has been at his bedside since the fall and thanked the 20,000 fans who marched through Turin yesterday in a joint show of 'Juventus Pride’ and support for Pessotto.
“I was very happy to see this show of affection, as I know everyone cares so much about Gianluca,” she told Sky Italia. “He did open his eyes and made a face, so we’re hopeful.”
The former player had been suffering from depression and was afraid he wasn’t yet up to the job of Juventus Team Manager. He was clutching a rosary in his hand when he fell from a height of around 15 metres.
