This is terrible news.
On the positive side -
1. I spent 5 days in the trauma ICU at Shands UF, in 'critical', in 1997 after an over the wall top end TF crash. At the time I had a traumatic head injury.
2. Shands is an outstanding facility with experience in race car crashes. Although this is a terrible thing he is fortunate to have been close to such a Hospital.
3. From my experience they will keep him intubated for some time, maybe weeks. In this time they will not know the extent of his brain injuries - so there will be no point in anyone else guessing about it.
4. The night of my crash they told my family on numerous occassions that I was done. After I made it through the first few days, in the weeks that followed, they told my mom that I might have any level of cognitive injury and not to expect much but hope for complete recovery. They also told my family that I had permanent orthopedic injuries that would severely limit my ability to walk/run/excersise/race/etc.
5. A couple of weeks later I woke up. My right leg was torn up pretty good but my mind was fine as ever. I have had no permanent issues from my head injury. My legs are still a little sore from time to time but thats a small price to pay. I am 99% recovered from my crash and that 1% is a needed reminder about racecars, life, and God. I qualified in Top Fuel at the Gatornationals in 2004(?).
My point is that there is every reason to be positive that things can work out OK in Medlens favor. I feel for his John and his family as right now it will be harder on them than it is for Eric. Also, all of the cards and notes I received from fans were helpful, I still have many of them.
GodSpeed and be positive. - Topping