Vonn says doctors saved her leg from amputation following Olympic crash

VAIL, Colorado — American skier Lindsey Vonn said she nearly lost her left leg following her frightening crash in the women's downhill at the recently concluded Milano-Cortina Olympics.

Vonn shared in an Instagram post on Monday that her injuries went far beyond the complex tibia fracture she initially revealed after clipping a gate and sailing off the course just 13 seconds into her run on Feb 8.

The 41-year-old said the trauma from the crash led to compartment syndrome in the leg.

Compartment syndrome is when excessive pressure builds up inside a muscle, either from bleeding or swelling. High pressure restricts blood flow and can lead to permanent injury if not treated quickly.

"When you have so much trauma to one area of your body, there's too much blood and it gets stuck and it basically crushes everything," Vonn said.

Vonn credited Tom Hackett, an orthopedic surgeon who works for Vonn and Team USA, for conducting a fasciotomy to salvage her leg.

"He filleted it open (and) let it breathe, and he saved me," she said.

Vonn noted that Hackett was only in Cortina because she was competing after tearing the ACL in her left knee shortly before the Olympics.

"If I hadn't had done that, Tom wouldn't have been there (and he) wouldn't have been able to save my leg," she said.

Vonn, who said she has been discharged from the hospital, also broke her right ankle in the crash.

"It has been quite the journey, and by far the most extreme and painful and challenging injury I've ever faced in my entire life times a hundred," she said.

Vonn underwent multiple surgeries during a weeklong stay at a hospital in Treviso, Italy, following the accident.

She credited both Hackett and Italian doctors for their efforts to repair her leg, which she said was "in pieces" following the accident.

She says she struggled with pain and blood loss in the immediate aftermath, and had to receive a transfusion to help raise her hemoglobin levels.

Vonn is confined to a wheelchair at the moment, but has turned her attention to her rehab and is working her way toward being able to use crutches. She estimated it will take about a year for the bones in her left leg to heal.

Only then will doctors be able to go in and repair the torn ACL, which played no role in the crash.

"It's going to be a long road," she said. "I always fight and we keep going."

Vonn stressed she had "no regrets" about her comeback following a six-year retirement, nor her decision to ski at the Olympics despite the knee injury.

"I wish it had ended differently, but I'd rather go down swinging than not try at all," said Vonn, who was atop the World Cup series rankings in the downhill when she arrived in Cortina.

"I think what I was able to achieve was more than anyone expected ... This year was incredible and so worth everything."

She likened her injuries to "a blip on the radar", but did not go into any detail about her competitive career, though her father, Alan Kildow, told reporters shortly after the accident he would like her to retire.

"Life is life and we have to take the punches that come," Vonn said. "Going to do the best I can with this one. It really knocked me down, but I'm like Rocky. I'll just keep getting back up."