FIDE's Campomanes in treatment for depression

FIDE honorary president Florencio Campomanes is being treated for post-traumatic depression some two weeks after being hurt in a car accident, according to FIDE ratings administrator Casto Abundo in a report posted on Tuesday at the FIDE website. Campomanes, president of the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE, or the International Chess Federation) from 1982 to 1995, is under heavy sedation and wears a head, neck, and chest brace due to multiple cervical spine fractures. But according to doctors, the most pressing problem is his "sinking morale." "I cannot stand. I cannot sit. Why can't I do such a simple thing?" a weeping Campomanes was quoted by the FIDE report as saying. But his face lights up when he receives get-well messages in his email. According to Abundo: "Campo should get well faster or he shall deteriorate very fast. I left him at the Presidential Board meeting here on [the] 31st [of January], two days before his accident. For several days, he had daily injections to cure a common cold and we could not depart together. At his advanced age, he is not recovering as fast as he did from a similar accident in 1990 in Uganda, and this is much worse." Among the doctors attending to Campomanes are psychiatrist Ibrahim Ates, orthopedic surgeon Burak Germen, and neurosurgeon Hakan Ozsuer. The car accident happened on February 2, as Campomanes was on his way to the airport after attending the FIDE presidential board meeting held in Antalya, Turkey. Campomanes underwent a seven-and-a-half-hour operation at hospital. Two of his sons who live in Europe rushed to him from Spain and Finland while other family members were still getting visas. “The doctors said that he is out of danger, but due to his advanced age – Campomanes will turn 80 on February 22nd – they still fear complications," a report posted at www.chessbase.com said. - ALEX T. MAGNO, GMANews.TV