Lindsey Vonn opens up on amputation fears and | Sports News

Lindsey Vonn has disclosed that surgeon Tom Hackett “saved her leg” from amputation after a six-hour operation. Following the conclusion of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, Vonn’s accident at first of the video games captured widespread consideration.

Just days earlier than she was set to compete within the downhill occasion, the 41-year-old revealed she had ruptured her ACL. Despite the harm, she selected to not pull out of the Olympics, continuing to compete within the downhill occasion. However, Vonn’s video games got here to an abrupt finish when she skilled a devastating crash on February 8, which required her to be airlifted to the hospital.

The severity of the incident left the Team USA athlete with a complicated tibia fracture in her left leg, necessitating a number of operations earlier than she was cleared to return to America. On Monday, the achieved skier posted on Instagram to tell her supporters that she got here dangerously close to having her leg amputated as a result of of the trauma sustained within the crash.

The three-time Olympic medalist detailed how the accident resulted in compartment syndrome, a severe situation that elevates stress within a muscle and limits blood circulation. For Vonn, it posed the risk of shedding her leg.

“Well, guys, after two weeks, I’ve finally made it out of the hospital. It has been quite the journey and by far the most extreme, and painful, and challenging injury I have ever faced in my entire life times a hundred,” Vonn shared along with her Instagram followers in an in depth replace. 

“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.

“Compartment syndrome is when you have got a lot trauma to 1 space of your physique that there is an excessive amount of blood and it will get caught, and it mainly crushes every part within the compartment. So all of the muscle, nerves and tendons sort of dies. And physician Tom Hackett saved my leg.”

Remarkably, Vonn’s ACL tear ultimately saved her leg. Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon working with Team USA, was only present at the Olympics because Vonn was competing following an ACL tear in her left knee. She explained: “He saved my leg from being amputated; he did what’s referred to as a fasciotomy, the place he cut open each side of my leg, sort of filleted it open, so to talk. Let it breathe and he saved me … if I hadn’t torn my ACL, which I might have torn anyway with this crash, if I hadn’t achieved that, Tom would not have been there, he would not have been in a position to save my leg.

“So 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 a little longer than I had hoped … I had a blood transfusion and that helped me a lot.”

While Vonn has been launched from the hospital, she shared that her proper ankle was damaged within the crash, including one other layer of problem to an already strenuous restoration course of.

Despite visibly struggling along with her feelings in her video replace, the 41-year-old remained resilient, expressing gratitude to her followers for his or her assist and giving a shout-out to her Team USA teammates, who had their most triumphant Winter Olympics ever in Italy.

“I can’t tell you how painful it’s been. It’s been really hard,” she admitted. “And it was definitely not the way I wanted to end my Olympics, but it’s been really inspiring to watch my teammates; everyone’s just been incredible, and watching Team USA dominate has been really uplifting, so I’m truly proud of all you guys.

“I simply admire all of the love and assist … I want that it ended in a different way, however I’d fairly go down swinging than not strive in any respect.”