Olympic alpine ski legend Lindsey Vonn said she nearly lost her leg and was forced to undergo a blood transfusion after suffering a horrifying injury.
Vonn shared an Instagram video Monday saying she experienced the “most extreme and painful and challenging injury I’ve ever faced in my entire life times a hundred” following her crash at the games. The athlete said the two-week nightmare nearly culminated in a leg amputation. She explained the gruesome injury that resulted in a shattered tibia, fractured fibular head and tibial plateau.
“Everything was in pieces,” Vonn said.
The athlete then revealed she had compartment syndrome, a condition where swelling and trapped blood can start to build up, crushing muscle, nerves and tissue. She told fans her surgeon, Dr. Tom Hackett, performed an emergency fasciotomy. She said he “filleted” her leg — cutting open both sides to relieve the pressure, ultimately saving the limb. The images were harrowing.
241K likes, 12K comments - lindseyvonn on February 23, 2026: "I’m finally out of the hospital!!! 🙌🏻 After almost 2 weeks of laying in a hospital bed almost completely immobile, I’m finally well enough to move to a hotel. It’s not home yet, but it’s a huge step! I hope I explained my injury well enough. I’m not a doctor so if I don’t explain something perfectly please forgive me. When the injury happened the situation was quite challenging in many ways but in the end, the situation was brought back into control. Again, thank you Dr Tom Hackett 🙏🏻❤️ Now I will focus on rehab and progressing from a wheelchair to crutches in a few weeks. It will take around a year for all of the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to take out all the metal or not, and then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL. It will be a long road but I’ll get there. At least I’m out of the hospital 🙌🏻💪🏻 Love you all 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️❤️❤️".
“He saved my leg,” Vonn said, noting the surgery was a 6-hour procedure. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of her painful ordeal.
Vonn said she had “very low hemoglobin from all the blood loss of all the surgeries,” and required a blood transfusion.
“I can’t tell you how painful it’s been — it’s been really hard,” she said, visibly struggling to fight back her tears.
Despite the traumatic injury and excruciating healing process, Vonn said she’s determined to focus on her recovery.
“Now I will focus on rehab and progressing from a wheelchair to crutches in a few weeks. It will take around a year for all of the bones to heal and then I will decide if I want to take out all the metal or not, and then go back into surgery and finally fix my ACL,” she wrote in the caption of her post.
“It will be a long road but I’ll get there. At least I’m out of the hospital 🙌🏻💪🏻.” (RELATED: Lindsey Vonn Will Compete In Olympics With Torn ACL)
TOPSHOT – US’ Lindsey Vonn takes part of an official training for the women’s downhill event during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre in Cortina d’Ampezzo on February 7, 2026. (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP via Getty Images)
Vonn entered the games with a torn ACL before falling and being airlifted to hospital. Despite the ordeal, she said she has “no regrets” and would “rather go down swinging than not try at all.”
“It really knocked me down — but I’m like Rocky, I’ll just keep getting back up,” she said.
