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gcarter
03-08-2010, 02:01 PM
Sorry for the cut and paste, but why re-invent the wheel?


F1 legend Sir Stirling Moss breaks ankles in lift fall


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/47433000/jpg/_47433615_moss.jpg Sir Stirling won 16 F1 Grand Prix races in his illustrious career

Sir Stirling Moss is recovering in hospital after falling down a lift shaft at home and breaking both ankles. The Formula One racing legend, 80, fell three floors when his lift opened in error on Saturday, his website said.
Paramedics were called to his home in Mayfair and he underwent surgery at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.
He also broke four bones in a foot, chipped four vertebrae and suffered skin damage, the website said. His family said he was recovering well.
'Very unfortunate'
The website said: "He remained conscious throughout. With the assistance of Professor Sid Watkins he was moved on Sunday to a hospital closer to his home where he underwent surgery on both his ankles, which were plated and pinned.
"The door to the lift, that should have remained locked if the lift was not on the floor that it was called from, opened in error.
"He stepped into the narrow open shaft in the expectation that the lift would be present for him to walk into, as it should have been."
Lady Moss, Sir Stirling's wife, said: "This was a very unfortunate accident, it could have just as easily been another member of the family stepping into where the lift should have been."
His family said he was comfortable after a good night's rest and they expected the recovery to take up to six weeks.
Sir Stirling is known in the racing community as the greatest driver never to have won the Formula One championship.
He won 16 Grand Prix races between 1951 and 1961 and retired after crashing at Goodwood in 1962.

zelatore
03-08-2010, 07:02 PM
80 years old and he survives a 3 story with 'relatively' minor injuries? Tough old bird!

I noticed his doctor was Sid Watkins - I believe he's the current F1 head doctor. Probably knows his stuff pretty well.

gcarter
03-08-2010, 07:47 PM
I think it was the really horrible accident he had in 61, that despite all the broken bones he had, he was up on crutches w/in 12-14 hours.
Remember in the '50's, drivers wore T-shirts andd no harness much less safe helmets. They usually expected to bail out of open cars and roll to a stop.

Walt. H.
03-08-2010, 08:01 PM
English translation of lift to our USA engish is elevator.:shades:

Last Tango
03-08-2010, 08:12 PM
Sir Stirling Moss was supposed to be the Grand Marshall this weekend at the Amelia Island Concours D'Elegance in Fernandina Beach, Florida. I imagine that Bill Warner, the Chairman of the Amelia, is frantic. Fortunately there will be dozens of other very famous race car drivers there as well, to fill in for Mossy, including Richard Petty and Don Garlits, who are co-featured with Moss in several seminars at Amelia that start Thursday.

gcarter
03-09-2010, 08:23 PM
Here's an email from Sir Stirling....age will get to all of us eventually...


DEAR ALL OF YOU,

THE LAST FEW DAYS HAVE BEEN QUITE FANTASTIC AND I'D LIKE TO THANK EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU FOR YOUR KIND THOUGHTS, MESSAGES AND OTHER PARAPHERNALIA.

ON SATURDAY EVENING, I WAS AT HOME WITH SUSIE, ELLIOT AND HELEN AND ABOUT TO LEAVE FOR A CURRY, FOR WHICH WE WERE RUNNING LATE. I ASKED HELEN TO JOIN ME IN THE LIFT TO GO DOWNSTAIRS, BECAUSE SUSIE AND ELLIOT WERE SMART ENOUGH NOT TO RIDE IN MY LIFT. I OPENED THE DOOR AND STEPPED INTO THE LIFT, WITH HELEN READY TO FOLLOW ME, WHICH SHE NEVER DID. THAT IS BECAUSE THE LIFT HAD STOPPED ON THE FLOOR ABOVE AND INCORRECTLY ALLOWED THE DOOR BENEATH IT TO OPEN.

STILL CHATTING TO HELEN, I STEPPED INTO THE OPEN DOORWAY--AND FELL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE LIFT SHAFT.

THE AMBULANCE WAS CALLED AND ARRIVED AT RACING SPEED, WHEREUPON THEY PUT ME ONTO A SERIES OF ABOUT 10 STRETCHERS! HAVING FINALLY SETTLED ON WHAT MUST HAVE SEEMED A GOOD ONE, I WAS TAKEN, ALONG WITH MY FAMILY TO THE ROYAL LONDON HOSPITAL IN WHITECHAPEL, WHERE THEY USED ANOTHER BATCH OF SIMILAR STRETCHERS!

THEY DID A GOOD JOB OF HELPING ME, BUT WERE UNABLE TO DO THE REQUISITE SURGERY. SO, ON THE SUNDAY, I WAS MOVED TO THE PRINCESS GRACE, WHERE A FANTASTICALLY EFFICIENT, KIND AND AMUSING STAFF DID ALL THE JOBS.

I AM NOW IN A LOVELY ROOM, NUMBER 222, AND WITH THE HELP OF ELLIOT AND THE PORTER, AM FINALLY ON THE EMAIL. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO ACTUALLY SEND THIS TO YOU, BUT I WILL TRY!

NOW FOR THE FUTURE... WHICH I CAN SEE WITH SUSIE, HELEN AND ELLIOT AROUND ME, IS GOING TO BE A BLOODY STRUGGLE!

AS SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW, SUSIE AND I ARE BOOKED ON A SEABOURN CRUISE FOR OUR 30TH ANNIVERSARY, NEXT MONTH. I HAVE TO CROSS THE HURDLE OF GETTING THE DOCORS, AND FAMLY HANGERS-ON, TO ALLOW ME TO THIN MY BLOOD, IN ORDER TO AVOID ANY ISSUES INVOLVING DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS.

IT WILL BE SIX TO EIGHT WEEKS FROM SUNDAY BEFORE I WILL ABLE TO PUT ANY LOAD ON MY FEET. THEREFORE I'M FACING MY SIXTH OR SEVENTH REDUCTION TO A WHEELCHAIR (SUSIE SAYS SHE'S STOPPED COUNTING) WHICH I MUST ADMIT, IS RATHER BORING. THE GOOD NEWS IS; THAT I DIDN'T SELL THE WHEELCHAIR AFTER THE LAST SHUNT!

THE WHOLE THING IS A REAL PAIN IN THE ARSE, IF I HAD LOOKED WHERE I WAS GOING, I WOULDN'T BE HERE AT ALL, SO IT'S MY OWN DAMN FAULT.

I HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTELY OVERWHELMED BY YOUR COLLECTIVE CONCERN AND KINDNESS.

I CAN TELL YOU THAT CURRENTLY I'M LYING IN HOSPITAL, TAKING DEEP BREATHS, LIFTING ONE ARM WITH THE OTHER, RAISING MY LEGS (WITH PLASTERS ON THE END) AND DOING ALL I CAN DO TO KEEP MYSELF AS MOBILE AS POSSIBLE, BUT, HAVING SAID THAT, I'M NOT YET WINNING THE BATTLE.

I'M NOT SURE WHEN I'LL BE ABLE TO GO HOME BUT THE LIFT HAS TO WORK, OTHERWISE I'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO GET UPSTAIRS IN MY WHEELCHAIR, MAYBE I'LL GO AND STAY WITH HELEN AND ELLIOT FOR A WHILE...

THIS REALLY HAS OPENED MY EYES TO HOW KIND ALL MY FRIENDS ARE, OVER AN OLD EX-RACING DRIVER, FLOGGING A FADING IMAGE!

I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SOON,

MANY THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS,

CIAO