Former Scuderia Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello has revealed that he is lucky to be alive after his recent health scare led to the discovery of a tumour on his neck. The former Formula 1 race winner was rushed to hospital in February after suffering a severe headache at home. He was released a few days later but had since had surgery to remove the benign tumour.
Speaking in a television interview on Brazilian programme “Conversa com Bial”, Rubens Barrichello showed off a large scar on the left side of his neck where doctors had operated: “After everything that happened, I had a bunch of check-ups to find out more about my health conditions and they found a small tumour on my neck, which they removed after a race I did in Interlagos. I had it removed because, even though it was a benign tumour, it would’ve grown and I don’t want to have that kind of discomfort in the car.”
He also explained that doctors had told him he was incredibly lucky not to suffer any long-term ill effects – or worse – from his earlier visit to hospital: “A friend of ours who’s a doctor saw that I was in bad shape and I’m very lucky,” explained Rubens Barrichello, as reported by motorsport.com – “The vein that opened due to a bad formation, regenerated itself with its own blood in two hours. When I arrived at the hospital, they put in a canular and saw the vein had closed itself. When I left the hospital, they told me only 14 per cent of people get out of this situation like I did. Many endure serious after affects or die.”
Talking about the incident that took him to hospital in the first place, the former Scuderia Ferrari driver added: “I was at home having a shower and suddenly I felt a pain in my head. From zero to 10 – I’d say it was an eight or nine headache, so strong! I lay on the floor, I didn’t want to wake anybody up. But it was hurting so badly. I walked back into my bedroom and woke up Silvana (his wife). I started feeling sick and realized this was a hospital situation.” – Rubens Barrichello concluded.
Leave a Reply