AOn February 3, ice hockey player Mike Glemser from the traditional Bavarian club Starbulls Rosenheim, three times German champion in the 1980s, fell into the rink after a body check by the opponent with full force and so unhappily that the 25-year-old striker was seriously injured. The terrible diagnosis for the young man: the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae broke, the spinal cord was damaged, and since then Glemser has been paralyzed from the neck down.
Glemser was in an artificial coma for ten days, underwent multiple operations and had to be artificially ventilated. He is currently completing his rehabilitation in the Murnau accident clinic. The sympathy from German, but also international ice hockey for Glemser is huge. He thanks you for that. Here Glemser gives his first interview after the tragic accident.
Ask: Mr. Glemser, how would you describe how you currently feel about your body?
Mike Forgets: The sensitivity is difficult to describe. I can feel almost everything up to my chest and arms, albeit differently: it’s better on my thumb than on my little finger. Or I feel more on the left leg than on the right. Then there are places where it feels like calluses or sclera. Other places are numb and you can pinch all you want. you don’t feel it It’s just dead.
Mike Glemser (r.) in the jersey of the Starbulls Rosenheim
Source: pa/Eibner-Pressefoto/Florian Wolf
Ask: What can you move?
Forgetting: The biceps muscles on both arms, but not the opposing triceps. The shoulders also go to a certain extent. Wrists and fingers don’t work.
Ask: They had to be artificially ventilated for weeks because the diaphragm was not working. How long have you been able to breathe on your own again?
Forgetting: Since the end of March. This makes everyday life a bit easier because I can talk all the time. If you’re attached to the machine and have a hose in your throat, you can’t do that. I had to use my hands and feet to tell the nurse when I needed something.
Ask: How are your days structured?
Forgetting: It starts at seven in the morning: breakfast, body care and getting dressed. Then the therapies follow until noon. After dinner we continue until 3 or 4 p.m. These are physio, ergo, massage and electrotherapy. There are also psychologist talks to process the matter. All around, family and friends visit me every day. I also watch Netflix and TV, drive out the door or to the cafeteria. I am sitting in an electric wheelchair that I control with my right arm.
Ask: What is done with the body parts that you cannot move?
Forgetting: My whole body is mobilized by the occupational and physical therapists to keep the joints flexible. This is done so that the nerves, should they ever work again, meet a healthy body. Because with stiffened joints you would have a double construction site.
Ask: What are the next steps and goals now?
Forgets: We want to rehabilitate my body as much as possible. I can only hope it gets better. With an injury like that, it’s in the stars how it develops, what comes back and what doesn’t.
Ask: What is hope?
Forgetting: What is hope? My family supports me a lot and always encourages me. I have to believe in myself But with this injury you just don’t know where it’s going. Nobody can tell you that.
Ask: How well do you remember the accident?
Forgets: I was there all the time. I happened to see the video once in a TV report. But I really don’t want to look at it anymore.
Ask: Who caught you at first?
Forgetting: My family and my girlfriend. But I also have to deal with it myself. That comes with the time.
Ask: Did you contact the player who checked you out?
Forgets: My friend Lara spoke to him. I don’t. But he doesn’t have to blame himself at all. Such a check is part of the sport. It just happened and we have to make the best of it.
Ask: So far, more than 650,000 euros in donations have been collected. How surprised were you?
Forgets: It’s really unbelievable how big the support is from Eishockey-Deutschland and even beyond. I only became aware of the extent over time, because at the beginning I was in such a bad mood because I was very busy with myself and my new situation. I am overwhelmed by the willingness to help and by how people support me in such a fate. I can only thank you for that.
Under the motto “#97 Be Strong”, the Starbulls Rosenheim collect donations for the paraplegic ice hockey professional Mike Glemser, 25). More information is available online at starbulls.de/bestrong and at www.instagram.com/97bestrong. The goal was at least 500,000 euros for medical care and other costs. Over 650,000 euros have now been collected.
The interview was conducted for the sports competence center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD, BILD AM SONNTAG) and first published in BILD AM SONNTAG.
