Lucky amulet, candles surround Schumacher

A lucky amulet that Michael Schumacher refused to race without has been placed by his side and his bed surrounded by candles by his wife Corinna, as she keeps a constant vigil on the former F1 champion as he fights to stay alive.

Doctors said yesterday Schumacher showed signs of improvement after a second operation but remained in a critical condition.

Mrs Schumacher has surrounded her husband with keepsakes from the family, including the ceramic amulet she gave him after their 1995 wedding, inscribed with the initials of family members, the Daily Mail reported.

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Other sentimental objects arranged around him include his 16-year-old daughter Gina-Marie's hairbrush and a golden cross from his 14-year-old son, Mick.

"Mick discovered it (the cross) when he was on holiday with his grandma. It has even been blessed," Mrs Schumacher said.

The family continues to pray for the dangerously ill seven-time F1 champion, who has been in a coma in hospital since suffering severe brain injuries in a horror crash on the French Alps.

Tomorrow is Schumacher's 45th birthday.

Yesterday his manager, Sabine Kehm, said Schumacher's skiing accident was a result of "extreme bad luck" and not because he was going too fast.

She said it was "good news" that there had been "no changes" to his condition and the crash would continue to be investigated to piece together a clearer picture of what had happened.

"Michael and the group had been skiing on normal slopes and then between a red slope and blue slope was a part with deep snow," Ms Kehm said.

"Michael went into that, but after everything that people told me, it was not even at high speed."

Source: Daily Mail, The Independent.