Michael still fought his way back to life. And not just once, but three times.

Back in 2005, he suffered a ruptured intestine, had to be resuscitated three times and was in a coma for 16 days “Evening Newspaper” reported. He received a stoma – an artificial opening in the intestines. When he got out of the coma When he woke up, he was paralyzed from the neck down. In 2012, his girlfriend finally encouraged him to start climbing again – this time as a paraclimber. From 2015 onwards he took part in international competitions again and even came second in the overall World Cup in 2017.

Organ failure – “I slowly managed to get myself back up again”

But then the next stroke of fate: “In 2022 I will have an intestinal obstruction Organ failure I had to completely learn to walk. I already had experience in that sense and then I slowly muddled my way back up,” he says in an interview with Sat.1 Bayern. Michael was in the hospital because of that – and then initially had to use a wheelchair. Three weeks after his stay, however, he was back in the climbing hall – this time as co-national paraclimbing coach.

“With training you can do anything”

In 2024 he finally had to undergo two life-threatening operations, which resulted in three days of coma. Reason for the procedure: His entire abdominal cavity was full of abscesses. In an interview with Sat.1 Bayern, he remembers: “The doctors said: ‘This guy will never be like that again wheelchair leave.’ And then I looked back on my professional career and said: ‘With training you can do anything’.”