Happy to finally be home, Lindsey Vonn said in a social media post on Sunday that “a tough and painful journey” lies ahead as the American skier recovers from a devastating crash last month during the women’s downhill at the Cortina Olympics in Milan.
Vonn, 41, has undergone five surgeries since suffering a complex left tibial fracture after cutting a gate and sailing 13 seconds off course during the Feb. 8 run.
She later said the damage was so extensive that her leg might have been amputated if Team USA’s orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Tom Hackett, had not promptly treated the resulting compartment syndrome from the crash by performing a fasciotomy.
Daniel Kopatsch/VOIGT via Getty Images
In compartment syndrome, the excessive pressure that builds up in a muscle from bleeding or swelling restricts blood flow and can lead to permanent injury if not treated quickly.
Hospitalization for four surgeries followed over nearly two weeks in Italy and then a fifth surgery and recovery in the United States before she was able to travel home on Sunday.
“Home sweet home. It feels good to sleep in my own bed,” Vonn shared on Instagram. “I am now focusing on therapy and getting healthy. It will be a tough and painful journey, but I am putting all my energy into it, as I always do.”
Vonn noted emotional pain for another reason: the death of her dog Leo, a shelter dog she adopted in 2014. She wrote on Instagram earlier this month that Leo was recently diagnosed with lung cancer after surviving lymphoma a year and a half ago.
“The day I crashed, so did Leo,” Vonn had written, naming February 9 as the day of his death.
On Sunday, Vonn wrote: “Driving through the front door without Leo greeting me, as he always did, was a very harsh reality. A reality I had to face. Along with many other harsh realities that lay before me as I moved forward….”
She informed her followers that she’s going to “take some time for myself” and will provide updates when she can, then thanked them for their love and support.
When she retired with a partially rebuilt right knee, Vonn was considered a medal contender at the Olympics before her final World Cup race a week earlier. She tore her left ACL during that descent, although she said she was still able to ski during the Games.
Vonn was looking for her second gold medal in the downhill, having won in Vancouver in 2010. She also has two bronze medals. She has 84 World Cup victories to her name, including two this season.
