Lindsey Vonn Says She Almost Lost Her Leg After Olympics Crash: 'i Can't Tell You How Painful It's Been'

Lindsey Vonn says her near limb almost needed to beryllium amputated pursuing her horrific crash while competing astatine nan Milan-Cortina Olympics earlier this month.

In a video posted to Instagram connected Monday, nan U.S. skis racing fable said she has been released from nan infirmary much than 2 weeks aft suffering a analyzable tibia fracture and different harm that led to compartment syndrome successful nan leg.

Vonn credited Dr. Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon who useful for Vonn and Team USA, for salvaging nan limb. She besides gave immoderate indirect in installments to nan complete rupture of nan anterior cruciate ligament successful her near knee that occurred during different clang connected Jan. 30, conscionable a week earlier nan commencement of nan Winter Olympics.

“I ever talk astir everything happens for a reason,” Vonn said. “If I hadn’t torn my ACL ... Tom wouldn’t person been there. He wouldn’t person been capable to prevention my leg.”

Vonn has won 84 World Cup races and 3 Olympic medals, including golden successful nan downhill astatine nan 2010 Vancouver Games. She returned to competitory skiing past twelvemonth aft a six-year hiatus. Vonn did not let nan torn ACL to forestall her from competing successful what she has called her “fifth and last Olympics.”

Despite completing aggregate trial runs, Vonn’s Feb. 8 downhill title lasted 13 seconds earlier she crashed. She was airlifted from nan Olimpia delle Tofane people successful Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

In summation to nan antecedently reported analyzable tibia fracture, Vonn said Monday that she besides fractured her fibular caput and tibia plateau connected her near limb during nan crash.

“Just benignant of everything was successful pieces,” said Vonn, who added that she besides collapsed her correct ankle during nan accident.

Vonn said that each nan trauma successful her near limb caused a information called compartment syndrome, which involves excessive unit building up wrong a muscle, either from bleeding aliases swelling, and tin restrict humor travel and perchance lead to imperishable injury.

“When you person truthful overmuch trauma to 1 area of your assemblage that there’s excessively overmuch humor and it gets stuck, and it fundamentally crushes everything successful nan compartment truthful each nan musculus and nerves and tendons, it each benignant of dies,” Vonn said.

“And Dr. Tom Hackett saved my leg. He saved my limb from being amputated. He did what’s called a fasciotomy, wherever he trim open, for illustration some sides of my leg, and benignant of filleted open, truthful to speak, fto it breathe. And he saved me.”

At 1 constituent since nan crash, Vonn said, she received a humor transfusion to raise her hemoglobin levels.

“I can’t show you really achy it’s been,” she said.

Vonn still has a agelong roadworthy to recovery. She said she’s “very overmuch immobile,” confined to a wheelchair for nan clip being and past connected crutches for astatine slightest 2 months.

“It will return astir a twelvemonth for each of nan bones to heal and past I will determine if I want to return retired each nan metallic aliases not,” Vonn wrote successful nan Instagram post, “and past spell backmost into room and yet hole my ACL.”

She added successful nan video: “We person to return nan punches arsenic they come, truthful I’ll do nan champion I tin pinch this one. It really knocked maine down, but I’m for illustration Rocky. I’ll conscionable support getting backmost up.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.