Paulo Crimber: In his own words

By Keith Ryan Cartwright, PBR
Posted Friday, June 27, 2008

PUEBLO, Colo. (June 27, 2008) - Question: Paulo, I really appreciate you checking in. How did your appointment go today?

Answer: I went to see Dr. Dawson and he took some pictures and he said everything is the way it’s supposed to be. And I asked him about my chances to get back riding and he said if I lose some of my movement, like everybody else (who had the same surgery), it’ll be tough. If I get all my movement back, I’m going to have a lot of risk if I land on my neck again. I believe in miracles and I believe God will make me normal. We’re going to wait six months and see if what’s going to happen after the recuperation and all that stuff.

Q: During the next six months are you allowed to do anything?

A: I’ll go to the doctor in six weeks, and in this period it sounds like I’ll kind of sit home and do normal stuff, nothing too much. Maybe I’ll be flying to some events and signing autographs or something, but nothing physical. He hasn’t said anything about physical therapy yet. He’s just going to allow me to take my neck brace off to take a shower.

Q: When it first happened, I was told that you were in a great deal of pain—

A: Yes.

Q: How much of that are you still dealing with?

A: Yes, sir. I was taking two (pain) pills every four hours, and now it’s only one or two a day. It went down a lot. I feel a lot better. It’s all from the prayers that we received. I want to tell my fans that we looked on the computer and saw over 3,000 emails (and messages) praying for me. That’s a blessing and all those prayers have helped a lot.

Q: Obviously you wouldn’t be able to respond to all those messages, but you have had a chance to read through them?

A: Yeah, my wife kind of went over it with me and showed me all that. I was so excited about that – to see how many fans I have and how many people care about me. It gives you strength to keep you going.

Q: The news was heartbreaking and the outpouring of support was overwhelming. Yes, you’re definitely a popular guy and everyone just wanted to know how they could get their well-wishes to you.

A: It’s just so amazing. Adriano, we have a relationship like a father and son. He was the one, with my wife, who took me to the doctor for my surgery. He stayed all the time (with us) and saw everything I’d been through, and he felt the same pain I was feeling. I was in so much pain it didn’t just hurt on your body it hurt your soul. I’ve been through a lot of injuries, but I’ve never been through so much pain like I did this time. And I know he might talk about me not riding again because he saw me the way I was, suffering with so much pain that he thought it was better to just keep me away from that. Now if we have a 1 percent chance to ride, we’re going to pray for that 1 percent and try. It’s what I love to do. They’ve all been supporting me so much – Adriano, Robson [Palermo], Valdiron [de Oliveira], Ednei [Caminhas], Guilherme [Marchi] – you know, pretty much everybody. They’ve just been supporting me so much that it’s kind of amazing. My sponsors, it’s all pretty much were I got my strength because I know that they’re going to be there to back me up. I want to thank them for being behind me. They tell me that whatever I need they’ll be able to help me. I want to thank Darren [Epstein, Paulo’s agent] because he’s been doing everything to help me. I want to thank Randy Bernard and the PBR crew. Randy called me to just to check on me and stuff like that. I feel kind of privileged to have him call me and ask me how I’m doing – that he cares about us and what’s going on. It’s amazing how everybody has been around to give me a hand and to pray for me.

Q: Going back to the 1 percent chance and praying for that 1 percent, at some point, will you reach out and talk with a guy like Mike White, who came back from a second broken neck?

A: Yeah. I don’t know what kind of a surgery he had, but we have two different injuries. The injuries he had are the same ones I had the first (time). My situation is extremely—it’s going to be hard. I’m going to be praying about it, but I believe in miracles that it will heal again and be normal like everybody else. We just have to wait and see. I’ll try to do whatever I can to be back, but if it’s not God’s wish, there’s nothing I can do about it. We’ll move on to something else, but we’re going to wait.

Q: You shouldn’t have to make any decisions right now.

A: I appreciate all my friends and my sponsors backing me up and I can still represent them. I’m lucky to be still walking. I don’t know the word, but I have nothing left from the injury. Some people don’t feel their legs or are paralyzed, but I don’t have anything like that. That’s a miracle. I’m feeling like a cat with seven lives, but I’m running out of lives so I need to slow down on injuries. But, like I say, I think I deserve to take that time to make a decision.

Q: You mention maybe going to an event and signing autographs, would that not be until after your next appointment in six weeks?

A: No, I’ve got to ask my doctor and see, but I was hoping to go to Tulsa.

Q: Really? I think your fans would be ecstatic to have a chance to see you in-person.

A: Yeah, they’ve been supporting me and I want to support them. It’s what I want to do. I won’t promise, but if – I’ve been recuperating so quickly, I’m feeling good day-by-day – if I can fly by that day I will be flying in.

Q: Is there anything you want to add before I let you go?

A: Just that I want to thank Randy Bernard and everybody for their special support. That’s so important. You have no idea what that means. When my wife showed me that many emails it just reminds you how much people care about you. It’s something you don’t see everyday. I just want to make sure they know that I appreciate it and I hope to pay them back.

Q: Well, I tell you what, just doing whatever it is you can do is all people want or expect. You’re going to be healthy and that’s all anyone ever wanted.

A: Like I say, I’m hoping for a miracle but I’m not stupid neither. I have a family to look after. I can’t just say, “Hey, I’m going to do this” and then get myself killed. If a miracle happens and I’m able to ride I’ll be there to ride. If not, I’ll just have to find another way to be around.

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