Double Olympic champion Kristina Vogel had to undergo emergency surgery in Berlin due to a pulmonary embolism. “I had so many thrombi in my lungs that my heart pressure had already risen and it was becoming life-threatening,” the 33-year-old former track cyclist wrote in an Instagram story on Monday.
After she got worse and worse on the night from Friday to Saturday, her friend Michael Seidenbecher took her to the Berlin accident hospital on Saturday morning. “One more day at home would probably have been my last day!” said the Olympic track cycling champion and posted a photo from the hospital bed in which she was smiling again and still showing her left thumb up. “Bild” first reported about it.
In 2018, Vogel had a serious training accident in Cottbus. Since then she has been paralyzed and uses a wheelchair. After the accident, Vogel underwent several operations in the Berlin Accident Hospital (UKB). Once again, the UKB employees probably saved her life, Vogel now said.
On Monday, the record world champion was moved from the intensive care unit to the normal ward and will remain in the hospital for observation for a few more days. According to Vogel, initial assessments suggest that her paralysis was not the cause of the pulmonary embolism. Further investigations will follow.
Broadcast: Antenne Brandenburg, Studio Cottbus, April 16, 2024, 7:30 a.m