A check at an ice hockey game destroys Mike Glemser’s life. The professional from the top division Starbulls Rosenheim is paralyzed from the neck down and can no longer breathe on his own. It is unclear whether this will change anything. So that he can get the best treatment, a fundraiser is started.
Mike Glemser is now aware of the cruel truth. “He knows,” says Andreas Huber, press officer of the ice hockey league Starbulls Rosenheim. For Mike Glemser, a 25-year-old professional ice hockey player, this means: He can no longer breathe on his own, he can no longer move. He is paralyzed from the neck down. And as of today, no one can say with absolute certainty that this will ever change.
The moment that divides Mike Glemser’s life into a before and an after was a month ago. It is February 3rd, in the ninth minute of the Starbulls Rosenheim game at SC Riessersee, when Glemser hits his head against the rink after a check. It quickly becomes clear that something dramatic has happened, the young striker is being ventilated while still on the ice and then transported to the nearby Murnau accident clinic.
There he is initially in an artificial coma for ten days and undergoes two operations. The fracture of the fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae is treated and one of the two vertebrae is replaced with an artificial implant. The diagnosis is devastating: Glemser is paralyzed from the neck down, except for slight twitching of the biceps, he is unable to move. His lungs are sucked out twice a day because he cannot cough up, an extremely painful procedure.
Mike Glemser will remain in Murnau for the time being, he has been transferred from the intensive care unit to the so-called ventilation station. One of the main goals is to restore his mobility to such an extent that he will at least eventually be able to move the wheelchair by himself. The mobilization of the arms and wrists is therefore a focus of rehabilitation, says Andreas Huber.
In order to finance the complex treatment and the necessary conversion work in the family home, the Starbulls Rosenheim launched a fundraiser for Mike Glemser via the GoFundMe platform. 175,000 euros had already arrived there within just one day. “Insane,” says Andreas Huber: “Mike is such a fine guy, he deserves every support.”
