Hospital gives update on Zanardi: "Condition remains unstable"

Alex Zanardi's health seemed to be doing a little better after the serious accident in which he ended up. The Italian was even allowed to go to a rehabilitation clinic. However, a bacterial infection caused fever and other complications, so Zanardi was transferred back to the intensive care unit of the San Raffaele hospital on Friday.

According to the hospital, the first night went relatively quiet. The institute will continue to provide diagnostic updates to assess his condition and the therapeutic plan has been put in place to try to stabilize his situation. Zanardi responds well to the first treatments, but the overall picture of his condition remains unstable, reports La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Will to live

The Italian newspaper spoke earlier this week with the priest Luca Poli, who visited Zanardi in the rehabilitation clinic. "He is only sometimes conscious and he also gets tired very quickly. Sometimes he is conscious, but sometimes he is not. When he was brought to the clinic from Siena, he was very tired and I could only see him for a short time. Of course I wasn't allowed to come near him either, because we have to keep our distance from the patients in these times," Poli explains.

The priest is of the opinion that Zanardi has an enormous will to stay alive. "I don't know where he gets the energy and strength. It is often important what the patient himself can bring. I'm not talking about physical strength. I believe that recovery depends more on willpower than doctors' treatments," concluded the priest.