Serious concern for Lene Laise after nasty accident – police cleared the way

The accident happened on Saturday 18 July at the Noordvolde grass track in the Netherlands, an hour’s drive south-west of Groningen. Imanuel Schramm had won the first heat with his new co-driver, Lene Laise; in the second, they got off to a mediocre start and entered the first bend in third place. After the apex, Markus Brandhofer, who was in second place, had to swerve his sidecar to avoid ramming into the leading, but significantly slower, duo from England. The Bavarian swerved so sharply that Schramm and Laise were unable to avoid the collision, and their motorbike flipped over the sidecar wheel. Lene hit her head on the track and was immediately knocked unconscious; a following sidecar team then crashed into Schramm’s machine.

Rider Imanuel Schramm deeply shaken

“At first I thought Lene was dead,” Schramm told SPEEDWEEK.com on Sunday morning from hospital, deeply shaken. “I took her helmet off; her eyes were open but there was absolutely no reaction. It went on like that for five minutes – no reaction at all. Medical care in the Netherlands is excellent, but at the race track it was a disaster. I cut open her suit; I did everything and coordinated who was doing what. It was as if I were the doctor. But I immediately established a good rapport with the emergency doctors and told them I wanted Lene taken to the best hospital, no matter where.”

The choice fell on Zwolle, 80 kilometres to the south. “It was unbelievable – and unimaginable back home – that the police gave me a lift because I wasn’t allowed to ride in the ambulance,” Schramm explained. “They drove ahead of the ambulance with their blue lights flashing and cleared the road – it was sensational. Lene had fallen and hit her head and was in excruciating pain; I just cried in A&E. They then put her into an induced coma, carried out a full scan and transferred her to the intensive care unit. The CT scans didn’t reveal anything – no bleeding or clots in the brain. The doctors are calling it a trauma, but they can’t rule out the possibility that there’s something else going on, because you don’t always see everything on scans.”

Lene Laise has regained consciousness

From midnight onwards, the doctors tried to bring the 21-year-old from Zweibrücken round; by 3.30 am, Lene had been stabilised enough for her medication to be reduced and for her to be slowly brought back to consciousness.

The young woman from the Palatinate is now fully conscious again, but remains in intensive care and is under the influence of strong medication. Her condition is stable, she is out of danger and, as far as is currently known, has not suffered any broken bones – partly because she was wearing an airbag vest.

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The care here is ten times better than in Germany.

Imanuel Schramm

“As things stand, there’s no lasting damage,” said Schramm, who didn’t leave his passenger’s side for a single second. “But a neurologist still needs to examine her; with head injuries like this, you can never be entirely sure. Her father and mother drove straight to the Netherlands and arrived just as she woke up. Fortunately, they’re here now too. I’ve been through a lot, but there are no better hospitals than in the Netherlands. The care is ten times better than in Germany; you’re not left alone for a single second. We were given a family lounge where we could leave our clothes and where there’s coffee and other drinks. In the morning, they prepared breakfast for us. The helpfulness in this hospital – I’ve never experienced anything like it. The care is of the highest standard.”