Snowboarder Malena Zamfirova undergoes six-hour surgery in Graz

Bulgarian snowboarder Malena Zamfirova has undergone a surgery that lasted six hours. Last week she was hit in the back by a tourist who was descending uncontrollably and suffered serious injuries while preparing for the World Cup in Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic. According to the chief surgeon at the hospital in the Austrian city of Graz, the intervention went very well.

“Restoring the shattered femur took a long time. The pelvis has been fixed and the external fixators that had been used to stabilize the pelvis and thigh have been removed”, the doctor said. According to him, a surgical intervention in the shoulder area will be performed by another specialist later this week.

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According to Malena’s father, Anatoliy Zamfirov, the girl is expected to start walking without crutches and begin active rehabilitation within six months.

“The target date is September 10. Then she can start rebuilding muscle and return to sports activity. Things look optimistic to us and we will try to shorten these timeframes through active rehabilitation and physiotherapy”, Anatoliy Zamfirov told bTV.

Edited by Diana Tsankova

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov