The day I fought an alligator | Deise Nishimura | TEDxAmazonia

Biologist Deise Nishimura used to research dolphins in the Amazon reserve of Mamirauá, where there are 90 alligators for every human being. On the New Year's Eve of 2010, while she was cleaning a fish in her houseboat a huge alligator surprised her and dragged her into the water. Deise fought for her life and won. She lost a leg, but managed to drag herself up to the radio and call for help. She is eager to return to the Amazon and resume her search.

My passion for the Amazon

began with this little animal here.

The Amazon River dolphin
or the Pink River dolphin.

The legend has it
that the pink dolphins seduce women.

I believe this legend
has some truth to it.

I moved here in 2009, in April of 2009,

from the big city
into the heart of the Amazon.

Right at that white spot
at the river bifurcation.

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

It was a floating house,
just like this auditorium,

but on a smaller scale, of course.

I was living my dream.

This was the view from my bedroom.

Every morning I woke up to this view.

And the only traffic I had to face

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

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

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

I learned how to clean fish, use rowboats,

and hold the oars properly.

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

I learned how to take pictures.

I learned to climb a tree.

So I was living the dream of my life.

I was living the way I always wanted.

However, life throws challanges to us.

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

cleaning a fish
on the deck of my house,

when an alligator attacked me.

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

I was sitting on the floor,
cleaning the fish,

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

wrapping his mouth around my leg
and dragging me underwater.

Roughly three meters,

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

There, it started spinning me.

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

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

until the part they want
just simply comes off.

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

it was as if I were inside of a blender.

Then, I thought,

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

I remember placing my hand
like this, behind me,

and feeling two holes
on top of its head.

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

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

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

That was when the alligator let go.

I got back to the surface
and managed to breathe.

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

However, I only had one leg,

I realized I had already lost one leg,

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

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

where there was a ramp
for docking boats,

and I climbed it up.

I stayed there for a while,
crying for help,

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

and I figured he’d still be around.

But, after some time lying there,
I thought,

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

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

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

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

which could communicate
with the entire reserve.

This was the hardest part, I think,

climbing up the ramp on one leg only,

I would jump, and roll and drag myself,

because when you’re on one leg only,

you lose balance completely.

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

and after ten minutes or so,

some tour guides
from a nearby inn arrived.

They tied a tourniquet
to my leg and all,

but ten minutes had already passed.

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

called the femoral artery,

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

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

Miraculously, I was alive and conscious.

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

but ended up twisting
my femoral artery as well.

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

the artery contracts itself
creating a natural tourniquet.

Anyway, they put me on a boat,

one of those small ones,

and I was taken to the hospital.

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

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

because until then, I felt nothing.

Thank God for the adrenaline.

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

I stayed there for 10 days,

and underwent emergency surgery.

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

I stayed there for another five more days.

After six months of rehabilitation

and intense daily physical therapy,

I still felt a whole lot of pain

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

to take away the pain I felt.

For me, that was the hardest part;

harder than fighting with the alligator,

more difficult than enduring the pain,

it was to start over again.

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

and all of a sudden,

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

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

This part was very difficult for me.

But, that’s why I am here.

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

which is an incredible story,

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

I am still overcoming it.

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

is not an easy thing to deal with.

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

like climbing the stairs,
for instance, without help,

It’s pretty hard.

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

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

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

with a physically
or mentally challenged person.

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

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

- I was using my crutches -

The woman approached me
and said,

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

I stood up and said,

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

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

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

and I am very excited about my future.

How about you? How are you doing?"

But children...

(Applause)

Now, let me tell you this.

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

I was in Rio de Janeiro once,

in a crafts market,
and I was wearing shorts,

when a boy came up to me and said,

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

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

So, I think this is it,

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

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

It’s how you deal with these problems.

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

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

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

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

Nonetheless, overcoming these hurdles
is what keeps me motivated.

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

I learned how to swim with one leg only.

There is something really cool
I want to show you.

I bring a portable table wherever I go.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

And one of my biggest wishes,

ever since I was in the hospital in Tefé,

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

I remember speaking with my parents,

"Look, I still want to go back."

Everybody thought I was crazy.

Yet, I can tell you, firsthand now,

that the day after tomorrow, after TED

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

I will be going back to my dream.

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

"Living is not waiting
for the storms to pass,

but learning how to dance in the rain”.

Thank you.

(Applause)