Skier Burke remains in critical condition
Posted January 12, 2012 1:07 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY — Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke remained in critical condition Thursday after a successful operation to repair a tear to an artery that caused bleeding between her skull and brain.
The 29-year-old was airlifted from Park City, Utah, to Salt Lake City after the accident during training on a halfpipe Tuesday and underwent surgery Wednesday afternoon.
“With injuries of this type, we need to observe the course of her brain function before making definitive pronouncements about Sarah’s prognosis for recovery,” Dr. William T. Couldwell, professor and chair of neurosurgery at the University of Utah, said in a statement. “Our neuro critical care team will be monitoring her condition and response continuously over the coming hours and days.”
Burke, a native of Barrie, Ont., who grew up in nearby Midland before moving to Squamish, B.C., was training with a private group at the time of the accident.
A four-time Winter X Games champion, Burke is considered a halfpipe pioneer who also lobbied tirelessly to get her sport included in the Winter Olympics. Halfpipe skiing will debut at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
Burke’s husband, Rory Bushfield, and other members of her family are with the skier in hospital.
“Sarah is a very strong young woman and she will most certainly fight to recover,” Bushfield said in a statement Wednesday.
Burke’s accident happened in the early afternoon on the same halfpipe where snowboarder Kevin Pearce was critically injured during training Dec. 31, 2009. Pearce suffered traumatic brain injuries but has since recovered and returned to riding on snow last month.
