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My passion for the Amazon

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began with this little animal here.

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The Amazon River dolphin 
or the Pink River dolphin.

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The legend has it
that the pink dolphins seduce women.

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I believe this legend 
has some truth to it.

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I moved here in 2009, in April of 2009,

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from the big city 
into the heart of the Amazon.

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Right at that white spot 
at the river bifurcation.

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This was the house 
where I have been living for nine months.

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It was a floating house, 
just like this auditorium,

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but on a smaller scale, of course.

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I was living my dream.

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This was the view from my bedroom.

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Every morning I woke up to this view.

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And the only traffic I had to face

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was waiting for a flock of loons 
to pass ahead of the boat.

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When I was in the Amazon, 
I learned how to sail a boat,

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while in São Paulo
I couldn’t drive a car.

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I learned how to clean fish, use rowboats,

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and hold the oars properly.

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I learned to sleep in a hammock
without getting a backache.

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I learned how to take pictures.

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I learned to climb a tree.

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So I was living the dream of my life.

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I was living the way I always wanted.

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However, life throws challanges to us.

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And it was one day, while cleaning
a fish, preparing lunch,

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cleaning a fish 
on the deck of my house,

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when an alligator attacked me.

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I was outside the house,
the alligator came from behind,

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I was sitting on the floor, 
cleaning the fish,

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and the alligator came from behind
and jumped more than a meter,

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wrapping his mouth around my leg 
and dragging me underwater.

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Roughly three meters,

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I’m not really good at distances, 
but I guess around three meters.

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There, it started spinning me.

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I don’t know if you have ever seen
an alligator attacking its prey

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but they seize it and start spinning
and keep on spinning,

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until the part they want 
just simply comes off.

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That’s what the alligator did to me,
I remember being spun and spun,

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it was as if I were inside of a blender.

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Then, I thought,

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"What would be
the most sensitive part of an alligator?"

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I remember placing my hand 
like this, behind me,

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and feeling two holes 
on top of its head.

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And I thought, it was probably
the eyes or the nostrils, beats me.

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But I remember thrusting my fingers 
like so, very deep,

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and pressing so, so hard 
that I even broke one of my nails.

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That was when the alligator let go.

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I got back to the surface 
and managed to breathe.

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I tried to get back to my house,
to the same spot it had grabbed me.

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However, I only had one leg,

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I realized I had already lost one leg,

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and I had no strength
to pick myself from the ground.

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So, I went swimming
to the front of the house,

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where there was a ramp 
for docking boats,

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and I climbed it up.

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I stayed there for a while,
crying for help,

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because I had seen a fisherman 
passing by in the morning,

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and I figured he’d still be around.

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But, after some time lying there, 
I thought,

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"Gosh", the water 
was all red with blood,

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and there was a big chance
of attracting even more alligators,

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so all I wanted was to get out
of water as quickly as possible.

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That was when I also remembered
that we keep a radio inside the house,

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which could communicate
with the entire reserve.

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This was the hardest part, I think,

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climbing up the ramp on one leg only,

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I would jump, and roll and drag myself,

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because when you’re on one leg only,

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you lose balance completely.

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But I managed to get inside,
got to the radio and called for help,

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and after ten minutes or so,

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some tour guides 
from a nearby inn arrived.

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They tied a tourniquet 
to my leg and all,

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but ten minutes had already passed.

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I'm not sure if you know this, 
but we have a very large artery here,

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called the femoral artery,

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and it is said that,
If you take a shot in here,

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you die in a matter of minutes, 
in four, five minutes, you’re dead.

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Miraculously, I was alive and conscious.

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Doctors say that when the alligator
attacked me, it not only twisted my leg

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but ended up twisting
my femoral artery as well.

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Other doctors say that when an artery
as large is severed,

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the artery contracts itself
creating a natural tourniquet.

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Anyway, they put me on a boat,

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one of those small ones,

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and I was taken to the hospital.

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Halfway there, they put me
on a larger and faster one.

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That's when I started 
to feel a lot of pain,

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because until then, I felt nothing.

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Thank God for the adrenaline.

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I was hospitalized in Tefé, 
a city 600 km from Manaus.

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I stayed there for 10 days,

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and underwent emergency surgery.

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After I was stabilized,
they transferred me to São Paulo by plane.

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I stayed there for another five more days.

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After six months of rehabilitation

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and intense daily physical therapy,

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I still felt a whole lot of pain

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and had to undergo
a second surgery, a corrective one,

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to take away the pain I felt.

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For me, that was the hardest part;

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harder than fighting with the alligator,

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more difficult than enduring the pain,

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it was to start over again.

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I lived in the vastness of the Amazon,
free, living my dream,

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and all of a sudden,

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I ended up confined 
to a hospital bed in São Paulo,

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depending on everyone else 
to help me with all I needed.

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This part was very difficult for me.

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But, that’s why I am here.

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I am here to tell you
not only about the alligator attack,

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which is an incredible story,

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I am here to also tell you
about how I overcame this problem,

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I am still overcoming it.

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I must confess, having our lives
changed so suddenly, so drastically,

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is not an easy thing to deal with.

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I was not able to do things 
I used to do before,

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like climbing the stairs,
for instance, without help,

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It’s pretty hard.

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And to be honest, I still get sad
and upset sometimes.

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However, I am not here 
for you to feel sorry for me,

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I think that, often, people 
don’t really know how to act

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with a physically 
or mentally challenged person.

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I don’t want you to feel sorry for me.

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Once I was at the gym, and a woman
came up to me and said,

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- I was using my crutches -

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The woman approached me
and said,

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"Oh, poor thing, what happened?
Did you twist your ankle?"

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I stood up and said,

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"No, no, it’s because I am an amputee
and I am still learning how to walk.”

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She said, "Oh! What a pity! So young!
Poor thing! It ruined your future, no?"

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I said, "Look lady, if you’ll excuse me,
but I’m doing just fine the way I am,

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and I am very excited about my future.

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How about you? How are you doing?"

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But children...

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(Applause)

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Now, let me tell you this.

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Children, I love them,
because they are really spontaneous.

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I was in Rio de Janeiro once,

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in a crafts market,
and I was wearing shorts,

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when a boy came up to me and said,

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"How cool is that! You have a robot leg!”

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Then he ran to his friends to share 
the news with them and point at me.

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So, I think this is it,

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it's not a leg
that defines who you are,

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it’s not the problems you face today
that make you who you are.

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It’s how you deal with these problems.

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Today, literally, each step
for me is a victory.

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Getting up and going to the toilet
used to be a challenge.

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Later, walking with the aid of crutches
was another challenge.

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Then, walking with a prosthetic leg
became the challenge for me.

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Nonetheless, overcoming these hurdles
is what keeps me motivated.

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After the attack,
I learned how to drive a car,

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I learned how to swim with one leg only.

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There is something really cool
I want to show you.

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I bring a portable table wherever I go.

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(Laughter)

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(Applause)

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And one of my biggest wishes,

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ever since I was in the hospital in Tefé,

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was to go back to the Amazon,
which was my great passion.

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I remember speaking with my parents,

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"Look, I still want to go back."

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Everybody thought I was crazy.

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Yet, I can tell you, firsthand now,

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that the day after tomorrow, after TED

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I will be heading back to the reserve,
and to my project with the river dolphins.

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I will be going back to my dream.

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Just to finish, as I read in a blog once,

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"Living is not waiting
for the storms to pass,

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but learning how to dance in the rain”.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)