ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ed Gavagan - Designer, Storyteller
Ed Gavagan was walking down the street in downtown Manhattan when he was the victim of a gang assignment to kill a random stranger. He lives to tell the amazing story.

Why you should listen

Ed Gavagan is the owner of PraxisNYC, a design firm specializing in boutique residences and aimed at designing for sustainability, habitability, durability and beauty. In 2007 Gavagan told the story “Drowning on Sullivan Street” at the Moth, the series devoted to stories told live without notes, about his near-death experience on the streets of New York as the victim of a gang initiation rite. His stories have been heard on NPR and the Moth podcast, and he has appeared onstage with the Moth in events across the U.S. Gavagan lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.

More profile about the speaker
Ed Gavagan | Speaker | TED.com
TEDMED 2012

Ed Gavagan: A story about knots and surgeons

Ed Gavagan: Uma história sobre nós e cirurgiões


Filmed:
1,054,849 views

Um dia, Ed Gavagan estava sentado no metrô, observando dois jovens estudantes de medicina praticando como fazer nós. E uma lembrança forte tomou conta dele -- de um momento traumático que mudou sua vida para sempre. Uma história inesquecível de crime, talento e gratidão.
- Designer, Storyteller
Ed Gavagan was walking down the street in downtown Manhattan when he was the victim of a gang assignment to kill a random stranger. He lives to tell the amazing story. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:19
You know, we wake up in the morning,
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Sabe, nós acordamos de manhã,
00:22
you get dressed, put on your shoes,
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nos vestimos, colocamos os sapatos,
00:25
you head out into the world.
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e saímos para o mundo afora.
00:27
You plan on coming back, getting undressed,
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Planejamos voltar, tirar a roupa,
00:31
going to bed,
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ir para a cama,
00:34
waking up, doing it again,
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acordar, fazer tudo de novo,
00:35
and that anticipation, that rhythm,
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e essa antecipação, esse ritmo,
00:38
helps give us a structure
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nos ajuda a ter uma estrutura
00:41
to how we organize ourselves and our lives,
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para nos organizarmos e para organizar nossas vidas,
00:44
and gives it a measure of predictability.
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isso nos dá um caráter de previsibilidade.
00:48
Living in New York City, as I do,
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Viver em Nova York, como eu,
00:50
it's almost as if, with so many people doing so many things
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é quase como se, com tantas pessoas fazendo tantas coisas
00:57
at the same time in such close quarters,
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ao mesmo tempo, em um espaço tão confinado,
01:01
it's almost like life is dealing you extra hands
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é quase como se a vida lhe tivesse dando cartas extras
01:04
out of that deck.
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daquele baralho.
01:06
You're never, there's just, juxtapositions are possible
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Você nunca … essas justaposições não são possíveis
01:10
that just aren't, you don't think they're going to happen.
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você não pensa que elas poderão acontecer.
01:15
And you never think you're going to be the guy
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E a gente nunca pensa que vai ser aquela pessoa,
01:18
who's walking down the street
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andando nas ruas e,
01:19
and, because you choose to go down one side or the other,
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pelo fato de você optar ir para um lado ou para o outro,
01:23
the rest of your life is changed forever.
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o resto da sua vida muda para sempre.
01:26
And one night, I'm riding the uptown local train.
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E uma noite, estou no metrô na área residencial.
01:31
I get on. I tend to be a little bit vigilant
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Eu entro. Costumo estar um pouco vigilante
01:35
when I get on the subway.
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quando entro no metrô.
01:37
I'm not one of the people zoning out with headphones
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Não sou uma dessas pessoas com fones de ouvido, distraídas,
01:40
or a book.
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ou com um livro.
01:42
And I get on the car, and I look, and I
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Eu entro no vagão e olho, e
01:44
notice this couple,
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noto esse casal,
01:47
college-aged, student-looking kids,
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jovens com cara de estudantes,
01:50
a guy and a girl, and they're sitting next to each other,
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um jovem e uma jovem, sentados um perto do outro,
01:52
and she's got her leg draped over his knee,
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a a perna dela está sobre o joelho dele,
01:55
and they're doing -- they have this little contraption,
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e eles estão – eles têm uma pequena engenhoca,
01:59
and they're tying these knots,
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e estão amarrando esses nós,
02:01
and they're doing it with one hand,
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e fazem isto com uma mão só,
02:03
they're doing it left-handed and right-handed very quickly,
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fazem com a mão esquerda e a direita, tudo muito rápido
02:07
and then she'll hand the thing to him and he'll do it.
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e depois ela passa a engenhoca para ele.
02:09
I've never seen anything like this.
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Eu nunca vi nada parecido.
02:10
It's almost like they're practicing magic tricks.
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É como se estivessem praticando truques de mágica.
02:13
And at the next stop, a guy gets on the car,
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E na estação seguinte, um cara entra no vagão,
02:18
and he has this sort of visiting professor look to him.
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com um aspecto de professor universitário.
02:22
He's got the overstuffed leather satchel
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Ele carrega uma pasta de couro abarrotada,
02:24
and the rectangular file case and a laptop bag
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uma pasta retangular e uma bolsa de laptop
02:27
and the tweed jacket with the leather patches,
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e o paletó de tweed com remendos de couro,
02:30
and — (Laughter) —
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e – (Risos) –
02:32
he looks at them, and then
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ele olha para eles e
02:34
in a blink of an eye, he kneels down in front of them,
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num piscar de olhos, ele se ajoelha diante deles,
02:37
and he starts to say,
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e começa a dizer,
02:39
"You know, listen, here's how you can do it. Look,
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“Sabe, escuta, é assim que se faz isso. Olha,
02:41
if you do this -- " and he takes the laces out of their hand,
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se você faz assim –” e ele tira os cadarços das mãos deles,
02:44
and instantly, he starts tying these knots,
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e imediatamente começa a amarrar os nós,
02:47
and even better than they were doing it, remarkably.
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e faz isso muito melhor do que eles, sensacional.
02:52
And it turns out they are medical students
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E se vê que são estudantes de medicina
02:55
on their way to a lecture about the latest
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indo para uma aula sobre as últimas técnicas
02:57
suturing techniques, and he's the guy giving the lecture.
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de sutura, e ele é o professor que vai dar essa aula.
03:00
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
03:02
So he starts to tell them, and he's like,
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Ele começa a falar assim com eles:
03:04
"No, this is very important here. You know,
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“Não, isso aqui é muito importante. Sabem
,
03:07
when you're needing these knots,
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quando vocês precisarem destes nós,
03:09
it's going to be, you know, everything's
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tudo vai acontecer, sabe, tudo
03:11
going to be happening at the same time, it's going to be --
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ao mesmo tempo, vai ser –
03:14
you're going to have all this information coming at you,
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vocês terão toda essas informações sendo dadas a vocês,
03:18
there's going to be organs getting in the way,
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órgãos estarão obstruindo o caminho,
03:19
it's going to be slippery,
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vai ser escorregadio,
03:21
and
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e
03:23
it's just very important that you be able to do these
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é simplesmente muito importante que sejam capazes de fazer isso
03:26
beyond second nature, each hand, left hand, right hand,
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como além de um reflexo natural, cada mão, mão esquerda, direita,
03:29
you have to be able to do them without seeing your fingers."
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precisam fazer isso sem ver os seus dedos,”
03:32
And at that moment, when I heard that,
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E naquele momento, quando ouvi isso,
03:34
I just got catapulted out of the subway car into a night
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fui catapultado para fora do metrô para uma noite
03:41
when I had been getting a ride in an ambulance
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em que era levado em uma ambulância, recolhido
03:44
from the sidewalk where I had been stabbed
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da calçada onde tinha sido esfaqueado,
03:49
to the trauma room of St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan,
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indo para a sala de trauma do Hospital St. Vicent em Manhattan,
03:53
and what had happened was
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porque
03:55
a gang had come in from Brooklyn.
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uma quadrilha tinha vindo do Brooklyn.
03:58
As part of an initiation for three of their members,
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Como parte de uma iniciação de três dos seus membros,
04:01
they had to kill somebody,
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eles teriam que matar alguém,
04:03
and I happened to be the guy walking down Bleecker Street
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e eu por acaso era o cara andando na Bleecker Street
04:06
that night,
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naquela noite,
04:07
and they jumped on me without a word.
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e eles pularam em cima de mim sem dar uma palavra.
04:12
One of the very lucky things,
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Minha sorte é que
04:14
when I was at Notre Dame, I was on the boxing team,
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quando estava em Notre Dame, eu fazia parte de um time de boxe,
04:17
so I put my hands up right away, instinctively.
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então fui logo colocando minhas mãos para cima, instintivamente.
04:22
The guy on the right had a knife with a 10-inch blade,
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O cara no lado direito tinha uma faca com uma lâmina de 25cm,
04:25
and he went in under my elbow,
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e ele enfiou a faca por baixo do meu cotovelo,
04:29
and it went up and cut my inferior vena cava.
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e cortou a minha veia cava inferior.
04:33
If you know anything about anatomy,
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Se você conhece um pouco de anatomia,
04:35
that's not a good thing to get cut,
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sabe que não é bom ela ser cortada,
04:37
and everything, of course, on the way up,
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e tudo, claro, dali para cima,
04:40
and then — I still had my hands up —
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e então – minhas mãos ainda para cima –
04:42
he pulled it out and went for my neck,
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ele retirou a faca e foi para o meu pescoço,
04:44
and sunk it in up to the hilt in my neck,
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e enfiou a faca toda nele,
04:48
and I got one straight right punch
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e eu consegui dar um bom golpe
04:51
and knocked the middle guy out.
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e derrubei o cara do meio.
04:53
The other guy was still working on me,
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O outro cara continuava me atacando,
04:55
collapsing my other lung,
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causando o colapso do meu outro pulmão,
04:57
and I managed to, by hitting that guy, to get a minute.
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eu consegui bater no outro cara e me soltar.
05:03
I ran down the street and collapsed,
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Corri para o final da rua e cai,
05:05
and the ambulance guys intubated me on the sidewalk
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os paramédicos colocaram tubos em mim na calçada
05:08
and let the trauma room know
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e informaram ao hospital
05:10
they had an incoming.
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que tinham uma emergência a caminho.
05:12
And one of the
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E um dos efeitos colaterais
05:15
side effects of having major massive blood loss
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da perda maciça de sangue
05:19
is you get tunnel vision,
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é a visão em túnel,
05:21
so I remember being on the stretcher
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então eu me lembro de estar na maca
05:23
and having a little nickel-sized cone of vision,
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e ter um campo de visão minúsculo,
05:27
and I was moving my head around
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e eu movia minha cabeça
05:28
and we got to St. Vincent's,
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e chegamos ao hospital St. Vincent,
05:30
and we're racing down this hallway,
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estamos correndo no corredor,
05:31
and I see the lights going,
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e eu vejo as luzes
05:33
and it's a peculiar effect of memories like that.
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e o efeito desse tipo de lembrança é estranho.
05:40
They don't really go to the usual place that memories go.
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Elas na verdade não vão para o lugar de costume.
05:44
They kind of have this vault where they're stored in high-def,
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Elas parecem ficar trancadas em alta-definição em um cofre,
05:50
and George Lucas did all the sound effects. (Laughter)
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e George Lucas criou todos os efeitos sonoros. (Risos)
05:54
So sometimes, remembering them, it's like,
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Então, às vezes, lembrando delas, é como se,
05:59
it's not like any other kind of memories.
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não é como qualquer outro tipo de lembrança.
06:02
And I get into the trauma room,
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Eu chego na sala de operação,
06:05
and they're waiting for me, and the lights are there,
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eles estão me aguardando e lá há luzes,
06:08
and I'd been able to breathe a little more now,
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e agora eu consigo respirar um pouco mais,
06:13
because the blood has left, had been filling up my lungs
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porque meus pulmões estavam cheios de sangue
06:17
and I was having a very hard time breathing,
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e isso me impedia de respirar,
06:19
but now it's kind of gone into the stretcher.
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mas o sangue acabou ficando todo na maca.
06:22
And I said, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
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Eu disse: “Posso fazer alguma coisa para ajudar?”
06:25
and — (Laughter) —
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e – (Risos) –
06:27
the nurse kind of had a hysterical laugh, and
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o enfermeiro deu uma gargalhada histérica e
06:30
I'm turning my head trying to see everybody,
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eu viro minha cabeça tentando ver todo mundo,
06:32
and I had this weird memory of being in college
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e me vem essa lembrança esquisita de quando estava na faculdade
06:36
and raising,
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angariando,
06:39
raising money for the flood victims of Bangladesh,
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angariando dinheiro para as vítimas das enchentes de Bangladesh,
06:43
and then I look over and my anesthesiologist
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e então eu olho para o meu anestesista que
06:46
is clamping the mask on me, and I think,
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está colocando a máscara em mim e penso,
06:47
"He looks Bangladeshi," — (Laughter) —
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“Ele parece bangladeshiano”, – (Risos) –
06:49
and I just have those two facts, and I just think,
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eu tenho apenas essas dois fatos e penso,
06:53
"This could work somehow." (Laughter)
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“Isso poderá dar certo.” (Risos)
06:56
And then I go out, and
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Eu fico inconsciente
06:59
they work on me for the rest of the night,
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e eles me operam noite afora,
07:00
and I needed about 40 units of blood to keep me there
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e precisei perto de 40 unidades de sangue para me manter vivo
07:05
while they did their work,
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enquanto operavam.
07:09
and the surgeon took out about a third of my intestines,
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O cirurgião removeu quase um terço dos meus intestinos,
07:13
my cecum, organs I didn't know that I had,
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meu ceco, órgãos que eu nem sabia que tinha,
07:16
and he later told me one of the last things he did
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e depois ele me falou que uma das últimas coisas que fez
07:19
while he was in there was to remove my appendix for me,
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enquanto me operava, foi remover meu apêndice,
07:22
which I thought was great, you know,
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o que achei ótimo, sabe,
07:24
just a little tidy thing there at the end. (Laughter)
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apenas um pequeno retoque no final . (Risos)
07:27
And I came to in the morning.
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Acordei de manhã.
07:32
Out of anesthetic, he had let them know
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Não mais sob o efeito da anestesia, ele me disse
07:33
that he wanted to be there, and he had given me
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que queria estar presente, ele tinha me dado
07:37
about a two percent chance of living.
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uns dois por cento de chance de sobreviver.
07:40
So he was there when I woke up,
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Então ele estava presente quando acordei
07:42
and it was, waking up was like
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e a dor quando acordei era como se eu
07:44
breaking through the ice into a frozen lake of pain.
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caísse através do gelo em um lago congelado de dor.
07:50
It was that enveloping,
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A dor era assim abrangente,
07:52
and there was only one spot that didn't hurt
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só não doía em um lugar e
07:57
worse than anything I'd ever felt,
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era a pior coisa que já tinha sentido,
07:58
and it was my instep,
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e era o peito do meu pé,
08:00
and he was holding the arch of my foot
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e ele segurava o arco do meu pé
08:03
and rubbing the instep with his thumb.
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e massageava o peito do pé com seu dedo polegar.
08:07
And I looked up, and he's like,
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Eu olhei para ele e ele disse:
08:10
"Good to see you,"
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“É bom ver você”,
08:11
and I was trying to remember what had happened
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eu tentava lembrar o que havia acontecido
08:15
and trying to get my head around everything,
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e tentava colocar minha cabeça em ordem,
08:17
and the pain was just overwhelming, and he said,
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a dor era esmagadora, ele disse,
08:21
"You know, we didn't cut your hair. I thought
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“Sabe, não cortamos o seu cabelo. Eu pensei
08:24
you might have gotten strength from your hair like Samson,
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que talvez sua força viesse dele, como Sansão,
08:29
and you're going to need all the strength you can get."
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e você iria precisar de toda força necessária.”
08:31
And in those days, my hair was down to my waist,
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Nessa época, meu cabelo vinha até a cintura,
08:35
I drove a motorcycle, I was unmarried,
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eu dirigia uma motocicleta, não era casado,
08:38
I owned a bar, so those were different times. (Laughter)
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era dono de bar, eram tempos diferentes. (Risos)
08:43
But
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Mas
08:46
I had three days of life support,
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fiquei ligado à máquina de suporte de vida por 3 dias
08:49
and everybody was expecting,
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e todos receavam,
08:52
due to just the massive amount of what they had had to do
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devido ao muito que tiveram que fazer em mim,
08:57
that I wasn't going to make it,
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que eu não iria sobreviver,
08:59
so it was three days of
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então foram 3 dias em que
09:01
everybody was either waiting for me to die or poop,
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todos aguardavam eu morrer ou fazer cocô,
09:04
and — (Laughter) —
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e – (Risos) –
09:05
when I finally pooped, then that somehow,
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quando eu finalmente evacuei, então aquilo,
09:08
surgically speaking, that's like you crossed some good line,
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cirurgicamente falando, é como se você tivesse atravessado uma linha boa,
09:12
and, um — (Laughter) —
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e, um – (Risos) –
09:13
on that day, the surgeon came in
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naquele dia, o cirurgião veio me ver
09:16
and whipped the sheet off of me.
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e tirou o lençol de cima de mim.
09:19
He had three or four friends with him,
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Ele estava acompanhado de uns amigos,
09:21
and he does that, and they all look,
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e ele faz assim, e todos eles olham,
09:23
and there was no infection,
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não havia nenhuma infecção e
09:25
and they bend over me and they're poking and prodding,
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eles se inclinam sobre mim e me tocam e cutucam,
09:28
and they're like, "There's no hematomas, blah blah,
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e falam assim: “Não há hematomas, blá, blá, blá,
09:30
look at the color," and they're talking amongst themselves
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vejam a cor”, e falam entre si
09:33
and I'm, like, this restored automobile
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como se fosse esse carro restaurado
09:36
that he's just going, "Yeah, I did that." (Laughter)
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sobre o qual ele fala: “É, eu fiz isso”. (Risos)
09:39
And it was just,
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Era simplesmente
09:42
it was amazing, because these guys are high-fiving him
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fantástico porque esses caras fazem o gesto ‘toque aqui’ com o cirurgião
09:45
over how good I turned out, you know? (Laughter)
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porque tudo tinha corrido bem comigo. (Risos)
09:47
And it's my zipper, and I've still got the staples in
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E a cicatriz é minha, ainda tenho os grampos de sutura
09:51
and everything.
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e tudo mais.
09:52
And
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E
09:54
later on, when I got out
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depois, quando saí do hospital
09:57
and the flashbacks and the
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e os ‘flashbacks’ e
10:02
nightmares were giving me a hard time,
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os pesadelos me deixavam transtornado,
10:07
I went back to him
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eu fui vê-lo novamente
10:09
and I was sort of asking him,
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e perguntei,
10:12
you know, what am I gonna do?
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o que devo fazer?
10:15
And I think, kind of, as a surgeon, he basically said,
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E eu acho que, como um cirurgião, ele basicamente disse,
10:19
"Kid, I saved your life.
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“Garoto, eu salvei a sua vida.
10:21
Like, now you can do whatever you want, like,
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Agora você pode fazer o que quiser,
10:24
you gotta get on with that.
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você tem que seguir em frente.
10:25
It's like I gave you a new car
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É como se eu tivesse lhe dado um carro novo
10:27
and you're complaining about not finding parking.
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e você reclama porque não consegue encontrar um lugar para estacionar.
10:29
Like, just, go out, and, you know, do your best.
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Simplesmente vai, sabe, e faça o seu melhor.
10:33
But you're alive. That's what it's about."
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Mas você está vivo. Isso é o que importa.”
10:38
And then I hear, "Bing-bong," and the subway doors
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E aí ouço: ‘Bing-bong”, e as portas do metrô
10:44
are closing, and my stop is next, and I look at these kids,
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estão se fechando e a minha estação é a próxima e olho para os jovens
10:50
and I go, I think to myself,
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e penso comigo mesmo,
10:52
"I'm going to lift my shirt up
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“Eu vou levantar minha camisa
10:53
and show them," — (Laughter) —
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e mostrar a eles," – (Risos) –
10:55
and then I think, "No, this is the New York City subway,
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mas penso: “Não, esse é o metrô de Nova York,
10:57
that's going to lead to other things." (Laughter)
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isso pode ser levado para um outro lado”. (Risos)
11:01
And so I just think, they got their lecture to go to.
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E penso, eles estão indo para a aula deles.
11:05
I step off, I'm standing on the platform,
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Eu saio, estou na plataforma,
11:09
and I feel my index finger
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e sinto meu dedo indicador
11:12
in
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na
11:14
the first scar that I ever got,
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primeira cicatriz que tive na vida,
11:17
from my umbilical cord,
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meu cordão umbilical,
11:21
and then around that, is traced
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e em torno dele, está traçada
11:24
the last scar that I got
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a última cicatriz feita,
11:26
from my surgeon,
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pelo meu cirurgião, e
11:29
and I think that, that chance encounter
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sinto que aquele encontro casual
11:34
with those kids on the street with their knives
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com aqueles jovens na rua com facas
11:38
led me
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me levou
11:40
to my surgical team,
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a minha equipe de cirurgiões
11:43
and their training
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e seu treinamento
11:48
and their skill
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e seu talento
11:50
and, always, a little bit of luck
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e, como sempre, um pouquinho de sorte
11:53
pushed back against chaos.
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me tiraram do caos.
11:56
Thank you. (Applause)
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Obrigado. (Aplausos)
12:00
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
12:09
Thank you. Very lucky to be here. Thank you. (Applause)
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Obrigado. Tenho muita sorte de estar aqui. Obrigado. (Aplausos)
Translated by Nadja Nathan
Reviewed by Viviane Ferraz Matos

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ed Gavagan - Designer, Storyteller
Ed Gavagan was walking down the street in downtown Manhattan when he was the victim of a gang assignment to kill a random stranger. He lives to tell the amazing story.

Why you should listen

Ed Gavagan is the owner of PraxisNYC, a design firm specializing in boutique residences and aimed at designing for sustainability, habitability, durability and beauty. In 2007 Gavagan told the story “Drowning on Sullivan Street” at the Moth, the series devoted to stories told live without notes, about his near-death experience on the streets of New York as the victim of a gang initiation rite. His stories have been heard on NPR and the Moth podcast, and he has appeared onstage with the Moth in events across the U.S. Gavagan lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.

More profile about the speaker
Ed Gavagan | Speaker | TED.com

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