Hammond fully recovered, IMO

Yeah well, it might be scary, but not "having a jet engine right behind your back" scary =)
 
I doubt he is fully recovered, as he said himself, it's going to take him the rest of his life to recover. He is looking a hell of a lot better than he did in series 9 though, a lot better. Which is fantastic to see.
 
In a way, yeah, he had lost a lot of weight and IMO he looked very pale and gaunt. Thankfully he seems to have put the weight back on and is now looking really healthy. Mind, even he admits that he went back to work too soon.
 
Series three was four years ago. They all looked younger then. I know what you mean - I was watching the American adventure again the other night, and the poor fellow looks over-tired during the studio segments - but comparing him now to four years ago is a little unfair.
 
the way he came across in the Veyron vs. Eurofighter segment was very....what's the word?.....

reluctant? it's like he didn't wanna do it. he didn't seem himself at all. he talked in a very monotone voice. my girlfriend can read people pretty good and could see that there was some fear in his eyes.

so the mental scars still haven't healed.
 
I remember several months ago there was a thread discussing Hammond's behavior in Season 9 as being way off. He looked like he had just come out of a coma, he barely spoke and didn't do much of anything really. Recently he has even said that he did not remember filming any part of it.

Many of us were very concerned, however, I think it is very safe to say that he really is back to normal. His jokes are back, he looks happy and healthy, and his teeth are the whitest I know.

Especially with the 10X3, I think we have our Hamster back.

Does anyone else share these feelings?

EDIT: In terms of the show; review performance, overall stage presence, etc

I'm glad you're not his doctor. Or mine, come to mention it.
 
Yeah well, it might be scary, but not "having a jet engine right behind your back" scary =)

Exactly. I think he did a fine job there, even if he was a little reluctant. You can bet the H&S people made sure that nothing bad could happen to him. I mean the Veyron is proven....the jet car he raced was really an unknown quantity.

Thankfully it all worked out great in the end :mrgreen:
 
Wow, yes, dMa, you've completely changed my outlook. Now that you, the expert, have seen some low-resolution footage of Hammond on your computer screen and posted about it on some Internet forum, I'm assured that I can take your word over any of the highly-trained medical specialists and emergency medical professionals that actually saw and treated him.

Oh, and, apparently, a person's state of physical health is a matter of opinion, not fact. Interesting!
 
I am a Registered Nurse and I have worked in Rehab. (God I hated that job)

I think Richard's recovery has been amazing, most people with the same sort of injury he had are not so lucky. But he will never be exactly the same as he was prior to. It just doesn't work that way, but he is extremely functional for such an injury. I honestly attribute it to the fact that they opened his skull up immediately after the accident instead of monitoring the ICP for a while.

As for him looking fearful, I understand that too.

24 years ago I was hit from behind by a drunk driver. I skidded a ways and wound up going over a cliff. About 30 feet high.

To this day driving past a steep drop off causes me a bit of anxiety or if someone seems to be coming up behind me too fast. Anything can trigger a flashback of the tumbling sensation. Physically I am pretty ok except I cannot turn my head to the right very much so must turn my whole upper body. But you just adapt.

Richard is reacting exactly like I would expect considering what happened to him. A little fear is there. You can't help it, but I am so glad to see he is willing to still just go for it instead of retiring to his garden and sipping tea.

That is what I have done. I know going to an amusement park is going to bring flashbacks. I just accept that and deal with it. I am not going to stop going.
 
They didn't open his skull. He says in the book that that's part of the reason why he got his driving license back so quickly - because the surgeons managed to avoid that.

Unless that's just what he told the DVLA. ;)
 
Sorry to butt in here, but i think it's blatantly obvious that he's not fully recovered yet. Just as it was obvious when he returned for series 9 and everyone around him was claiming he was "all fixed" - he was very far from it - as he has since admitted.

Yes, he has come a long way and that's great to see, but I wouldn't say he looks exactly healthy - even though he's tried to make himself look more relaxed by growing his hair etc... he is still too thin, and still doesn't have the old sparkle in his eyes imo.
In fact, at some angles he looks like a little, frail old man.

Plus he sometimes seems to be functioning on auto pilot - like he's had to learn new techniques and ways of doing things. There's probably loads more too that we don't and won't ever know about.

At the end of the day he has a family to support and has to do all he can to prove he can still "cut it" on TV - and to that end he's doing great. I wish him all the best with that and hope he can continue to get better and find peace of mind.
 
A frail old man? That's a little harsh. Certainly by his own admission it's an on-going process, but at the end of the day, he's alive and he's happy. And that looks pretty damned good to me.
 
At the end of the day, there is only one person who can judge whether or not he is fully (or even partially) recovered and that is Richard Hammond. External appearances are irrelevant. As my wife (who underwent 7.5 hours of brain surgery to remove a benign meningioma 3 years ago) would say "I may look better, but you can't see inside my head".
 
At the end of the day, there is only one person who can judge whether or not he is fully (or even partially) recovered and that is Richard Hammond. External appearances are irrelevant. As my wife (who underwent 7.5 hours of brain surgery to remove a benign meningioma 3 years ago) would say "I may look better, but you can't see inside my head".
I could have not said it better- we don't know Richard, and therefore who are we to speculate about how he is? Plus I think this is private and none of our business.
 
Is it just me or does Hamster's voice not sound the same as it used to? Before the crash it was more energetic. Now it's more mellow and he just doesn't seem as upbeat as he did before.
 
Is it just me or does Hamster's voice not sound the same as it used to? Before the crash it was more energetic. Now it's more mellow and he just doesn't seem as upbeat as he did before.
Would you even notice if you didn't know he'd had a crash? I can't help thinking some of you are looking out for this stuff. Leave him be.
 
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