Brazilian woman speaks for the first time about a serious accident in a US circus, ten years later: ‘The body didn’t obey me’; watch

In “Fantástico” this Sunday (28), Brazilian Stefany Neves spoke for the first time about the serious accident she suffered in a circus in the United States. At the time, in 2014, eight acrobats made up the formation called the “human chandelier”, when they fell from a height of 12 meters and crashed into the ground. Among the three injured Brazilians, Stefany’s case was the most worrying. She was at the “base” of the stunt, which lasted just three seconds that day.

She was 19 years old when her liver was punctured, two ribs, her femur and other bones were broken, as well as two cardiac arrests. “I had so many dreams. So many dreams that were crushed for me. I was the one in the middle, the one who was shorter, precisely because I was tiny, skinny. So everyone was on top of me. I thought, ‘Why me?’”, remembered. The “Ringling Bros” circus was considered one of the oldest and most traditional in the country.

read more

Ten years after the fateful May 4th, she told details of her physical and emotional recovery. “The night before I didn’t sleep. I think it was a great intuition. At seven, I got up, got ready, caught the bus. We lived on the train. And then when this show starts, the curtain falls and shortly after, seconds, the structure collapses. I wake up on the floor. I couldn’t breathe,” reported.

The second cardiac arrest came when doctors were trying to stop internal bleeding: “I passed out. My conscience came and went. One of those times when I try to wake up, the first thing I wanted to do was get up. The body did not obey me. Just when I thought I was already progressing so I could go to a rehabilitation hospital, I started to feel really sick. An exam is done and I discover a serious infection.”

“I weighed 26 kilos, today I weigh 46, so I was 20 kilos below what I am. And full of fractures, at the same time there was plaster, plates. It was a pain that killed my heart. I thought like this: ‘Why 19 years old? Why didn’t this accident happen later?’. I wish I had lived more, dreamed more”continued.

read more

She returned home after three months in the hospital and was placed in the care of her family. “It’s an inexplicable pain. Your daughter leaves your house, perfect, with dreams to fulfill, carrying a slipper on her back, a ballet slipper. I cried in the hallway, in the bathroom. Only. But never in front of her, I couldn’t. I had to give her strength”said the mother.

When they were still in the USA, Stefany translated what the doctors said for her parents. “The doctors come into the room and say: ‘You’re not responding, the bacteria are resistant. You can continue increasing the antibiotics, but we don’t think you will survive. Or you go into surgery now to have the fluid scraped, but there’s no guarantee’”, remembered.

“I had to translate looking them in the eye. I couldn’t imagine my mother’s heart when she heard that from her own daughter. And she told me to turn to the doctor and tell him to his face: ‘My daughter will survive!’. And I survived. I had to wake up, fight, walk”, she added.

The young woman weighed 35 kilos for nine years. Only a year and a half ago, she has been recovering physically. Since the accident, she has had 10 surgeries. “I discovered two years ago that I have arterial disease, some arteries are clogged, obstructed, due to various surgical interventions. My back hurts, my foot hurts, which I almost lost. But it wasn’t in vain, it made me the woman I am today“he stated.

read more

The North American court ordered the payment of compensation to the victims. “Nothing pays for my consequences, but it was, yes, something that, in the justice of men, was reasonable. There was negligence. The carabiner that held the entire device was poorly placed and poorly maintained.”she said, who is writing a book about the journey.

The other two Brazilians who were injured along with Stefany also did not resume their careers in the circus. Daiana Florentino is a mother of two children, while Widny Neves works at a hospital in Orlando, communicating between doctors and patients. “Every year, on May 4th, we celebrate the second chance at life we ​​had. And it’s marked, we have a tattoo all together. This is forever”concluded Stefany.

read more