Lindsey Vonn Shares Scary Details on How She Almost Lost Her Leg After Olympics Crash

Lindsey Vonn is finally out of the hospital two weeks after her brutal crash that ended her Milan Cortina Olympics, and she took the time to share some good news about her gruesome injury.

The U.S. Alpine skiing great revealed on Instagram the scary details of her injury after she crashed during the women’s downhill on Feb. 8. At the time, Vonn was immediately airlifted to a nearby hospital where she underwent surgery for a broken leg, but she said her injuries were far worse than expected. Vonn said she could have lost her left leg, had it not been for her doctor performing a special operation to prevent a potential amputation.

“I’ll give you the full rundown. Basically I had a complex tibia fracture, also fractured my fibular head, my tibular plateau, just kind of everything was in pieces. And the reason why it was so complex was because I had compartment syndrome,” Vonn said.

Compartment syndrome occurs after a serious trauma when excess pressure builds inside a muscle from bleeding or swelling, Vonn explained, and can lead to permanent damage if not treated quickly.

“It basically crushes everything in the ‘compartment,’ so all the muscle and nerves and tendons, it all kind of dies. Dr. Tom Hackett saved my life. He saved my leg from being amputated. He did what’s called a fasciotomy, where he cut open both sides of my leg and kind of filleted it open so to speak, let it breathe, and he saved me.

“I feel very lucky and grateful for him, for the six-hour surgery he put in on Wednesday to rebuild it, which went amazingly well. But I was in the hospital longer than I had hoped,” continued Vonn.

Vonn’s doctor was only in Milan because she had torn her left ACL prior to the Olympics, which turned out to be a surprisingly fortunate twist of fate for the 41-year-old.

Vonn noted further complications during her several surgeries, which included getting a blood transfusion and treating a broken right ankle. She admitted she was still in a wheelchair and very “immobile” but expressed hope for her rehab process. It looks like it’ll be some time before Vonn can be up on her feet again, but at least she’s taking baby steps to what appears to be a full recovery.

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