Ramona Pierson: An unexpected place of healing

Translator: Olga Pcolova Reviewer: Martin Francis Gilbert Máik

Podelím sa s vami o niečo,

I'm actually going to share something with you

o čom som nerozprávala pravdepodobne dlhšie ako 10 rokov.

I haven't talked about probably in more than 10 years.

Takže majte so mnou strpenie,

So bear with me as I take you through this journey.

ako Vás prevediem touto cestou.

When I was 22 years old,

Keď som mala 22 rokov,

I came home from work, put a leash on my dog

prišla som domov z práce, dala vodítko na svojho psa

and went for my usual run.

a išla som sa ako zvyčajne prebehnúť.

I had no idea that at that moment,

Netušila som, že v tú chvíľu

my life was going to change forever.

sa môj život navždy zmení.

While I was preparing my dog for the run,

Kým som pripravovala svojho psa na beh,

muž dopíjal pohárik v bare,

a man was finishing drinking at a bar,

picked up his car keys, got into a car

zdvihol kľúče od auta, nasadol do auta

a zamieril na juh

and headed south,

or wherever he was.

alebo kdekoľvek išiel.

Bežala som cez ulicu,

I was running across the street,

a jediná vec, ktorú si naozaj pamätám

and the only thing that I actually remember

je pocit, akoby v mojej hlave vybuchol granát.

is feeling like a grenade went off in my head.

A pamätám si, ako som položila ruky na zem

And I remember putting my hands on the ground

a cítila moju životodárnu krv

and feeling my life's blood

vytekať z môjho krku

emptying out of my neck and my mouth.

a mojich úst.

Čo sa stalo,

What had happened is, he ran a red light

je, že prešiel na červenú a zrazil mňa a môjho psa.

and hit me and my dog.

She ended up underneath the car.

Ona skončila pod autom.

Ja som vyletela pred auto,

I flew out in front of the car,

and then he ran over my legs.

a vtedy mi prešiel cez nohy.

My left leg got caught up in the wheel well --

Moja ľavá noha sa dostala do kolesa -

ktoré ju točilo dookola.

spun it around.

Náraznik auta narazil do môjho hrdla,

The bumper of the car hit my throat,

slicing it open.

a otvoril ho dokorán.

I ended up with blunt chest trauma.

Skončila som s tupou traumou hrudníka.

Your aorta comes up behind your heart, it's your major artery --

Vaša aorta vychádza spoza vášho srdca.

Je to vaša hlavná tepna, a tá bola preťatá,

and it was severed, so my blood was gurgling out of my mouth.

takže moja krv bublala z mojich úst.

Penila,

It foamed, and ... horrible things were happening to me.

a diali sa mi hrozné veci.

Nemala som poňatia, čo sa deje,

I had no idea what was going on,

ale okoloidúci zasiahli,

but strangers intervened,

udržiavali moje srdce v pohybe, bijúc.

kept my heart moving, beating.

I say "moving," because it was quivering,

Hovorím v pohybe, pretože sa chvelo

a oni sa snažili priniesť rytmus späť doň.

and they were trying to put a beat back into it.

Niekto bol šikovný a vložil mi do krku Bic pero,

Somebody was smart and put a Bic pen in my neck

aby otvoril moje dýchacie cesty a ja som mohla dostať nejaký vzduch.

to open up my airway, so I could get some air in there.

A moje pľúca skolabovali,

And my lung collapsed,

so somebody cut me open and put a pen in there as well,

takže niekto ma otvoril a takisto mi tam vložil kolík,

to stop that catastrophic event from happening.

aby zastavil tu katastrofickú možnosť ich zastavenia.

Somehow I ended up at the hospital.

Nejako som skončila v nemocnici.

Bola som zabalená v ľade

I was wrapped in ice,

and then eventually put into a drug-induced coma.

a nakoniec uvedená do drogovo navodenej kómy.

O 18 mesiacov neskôr som sa zobudila.

Eighteen months later, I woke up.

I was blind, I couldn't speak

Bola som slepá, nemohola som hovoriť,

and I couldn't walk.

a nemohla som chodiť.

I was 64 pounds.

Mala som 32 kilogramov.

The hospital really has no idea what to do with people like that.

V nemocnici naozaj nemali potuchy,

čo robiť s ľuďmi, ako ja.

And in fact, they started to call me a "gomer."

A v skutočnosti, mi začali hovoriť Gomer.

That's another story we won't even get into.

To je iný príbeh, do ktorého sa nebudeme ani dostávať.

I had so many surgeries to put my neck back together,

Podstúpila som veľa operácií, aby dali môj krk zase dohromady,

a niekoľkokrát opravili moje srdce.

to repair my heart a few times.

Some things worked, some things didn't.

Niektoré veci fungovali, iné nie.

Bolo do mňa vloženého veľa titánia,

I had lots of titanium put in me;

kosti mŕtvoly,

cadaver bones,

to try to get my feet moving the right way.

ktoré mali prinútiť moje nohy hybať sa správnou cestou.

And I ended up with a plastic nose,

Skončila som s plastikou nosa, porcelánovými zubami

porcelain teeth and all kinds of other things.

a všakovakými inými vecami.

But eventually, I started to look human again.

Ale nakoniec som znova začala vyzerať ako človek.

But ...

Ale niekedy je ťažké hovoriť o týchto veciach,

It's hard sometimes to talk about these things,

tak majte so mnou strpenie.

so bear with me.

I had more than 50 surgeries.

Mala som viac ako 50 operácií.

But who's counting?

Ale kto by ich rátal?

(Laughter)

Takže nakoniec sa nemocnica rozhodla,

So eventually, the hospital decided it was time for me to go.

že je čas, aby som išla ďalej.

They needed to open up space for somebody else

Potrebovali uvoľniť miesto

pre niekoho iného, o kom si mysleli, že sa môže vrátiť späť

that they thought could come back

from whatever they were going through.

z čohokoľvek, cez čo práve prechádzal.

Everybody lost faith in me being able to recover.

Každý stratil vieru v moje uzdravenie.

Takže v podstate dali mapu na stenu, hodili šípkou

So they basically put a map up on the wall, threw a dart,

a tá padla na domov dôchodcov tu v Colorade.

and it landed at a senior home, here in Colorado.

And I know all of you are scratching your head:

A ja viem, že sa všetci škrabkáte po hlave:

"Domov dôchodcov? Čo na svete budeš robiť tam?"

"A senior citizens' home?

What in the world are you going to do there?"

Ale ak sa nad tým zamyslíte,

But if you think about all of the skills and talent

všetky schopnosti a nadania, ktoré sú v tejto miestnosti práve teraz,

that are in this room right now,

to je to, čo má domov dôchodcov.

that's what a senior home has.

Takže tam boli všetky tieto zručnosti a schopnosti,

So there were all these skills and talents

ktoré títo dôchodci mali.

that these seniors had.

The one advantage they had over most of you

Jedinú výhodu,ktorú mali oproti väčšine z Vás

je múdrosť,

is wisdom,

because they had a long life.

pretože oni mali dlhý život.

And I needed that wisdom at that moment in my life.

A v tom momente môjho života som potrebovala túto múdrosť.

Ale predstavte si, aké to bolo pre nich,

But imagine what it was like for them

keď som sa objavila v ich dverách?

when I showed up at their doorstep.

V tom momente som už pribrala 4 libry,

At that point, I had gained four pounds, so I was 68 pounds.

takže som mala 34 kilogramov.

Bola som holohlavá.

I was bald.

Mala som na sebe nemocničnú uniformu.

I was wearing hospital scrubs.

A niekto mi daroval tenisky.

And somebody donated tennis shoes for me.

And I had a white cane in one hand

A mala som bielu palicu v jednej ruke

a kufor plný lekárskych záznamov v druhej.

and a suitcase full of medical records in another hand.

A tak títo dochôdci zistili,

So the senior citizens realized

that they needed to have an emergency meeting.

že potrebujú mať mimoriadne zasadnutie.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

So they pulled back and they were looking at each other,

Takže sa odstúpili, pozreli jeden na druhého,

and they were going, "OK, what skills do we have in this room?

a šli, "Ok, aké zručnosti máme v tejto miestnosti?

This kid needs a lot of work."

Toto dieťa potrebuje veľa práce."

So they eventually started matching their talents and skills

Takže nakoniec začali

spájať ich talenty a zručnosti

ku všetkým mojim potrebám.

to all of my needs.

Ale jedna z prvých vecí, ktoré potrebovali urobiť,

But one of the first things they needed to do

bolo posúdiť, čo som potrebovala najskôr.

was assess what I needed right away.

Potrebovala som zistiť,

I needed to figure out how to eat like a normal human being,

ako jesť ako normálny človek,

since I'd been eating through a tube in my chest

pretože som jedla cez infúziu v mojej hrudi

a v mojich žilách.

and through my veins.

So I had to go through trying to eat again.

Takže som musela prejsť cez skúšanie znova jesť.

And they went through that process.

A oni tiež prešli týmto procesom.

A potom zistili:

And then they had to figure out:

"Well, she needs furniture.

"No, ona potrebuje nábytok.

She is sleeping in the corner of this apartment."

Spí v rohu tohto bytu."

So they went to their storage lockers

Takže išli do svojich úložných priestorov

and all gathered their extra furniture --

a všetci pozbierali svoj extra nábytok --

gave me pots and pans, blankets --

dali mi hrnce a panvice, prikrývky,

všetko.

everything.

And then the next thing that I needed

A potom ďalšia vec, ktorú som potrebovala,

bola premena.

was a makeover.

(Laughter)

Takže zmyzol zelený nemocničný úbor

So out went the green scrubs,

a nahradil ho polyester a kvetinové vzory.

and in came the polyester and floral prints.

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

We're not going to talk about the hairstyles

Nebudeme hovoriť o účesoch, ktoré sa mi snažili nanútiť,

they tried to force on me once my hair grew back.

keď mi znova narástli vlasy.

Ale povedala som nie modrým vlasom.

But I did say no to the blue hair.

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

So eventually, what went on is,

Takže, k čomu nakoniec prišlo,

bolo, že sa rozhodli, že sa potrebujem naučiť rozprávať.

they decided that, well, I need to learn to speak.

Nemôžete byť nezávislý človek,

You can't be an independent person

ak nie ste schopný rozprávať a nemôžete vidieť.

if you're not able to speak and you can't see.

So they figured not being able to see is one thing,

Došli k názoru, že byť slepá je jedna vec,

but they need to get me to talk.

ale museli ma prinútiť rozprávať.

So while Sally, the office manager,

Takže zatiaľ čo Sally, vedúca kancelárie,

was teaching me to speak in the day --

ma učila rozprávať cez deň -

it's hard, because when you're a kid, you take things for granted.

je to ťažké, pretože keď ste dieťa,

beriete veci za samozrejmé.

You learn things unconsciously.

Učíte sa veci podvedome.

But for me, I was an adult and it was embarrassing,

Ale pre mňa, ako dospelú, to bolo zahanbujúce,

musela som sa naučiť ako koordinovať

and I had to learn how to coordinate my new throat with my tongue

moje nové hrdlo s mojim jazykom

and my new teeth and my lips,

a so svojimi novými zubami a perami,

and capture the air and get the word out.

a zachytiť vzduch a dostať slovo von.

So, I acted like a two-year-old,

Takže som sa správala ako dvojročná

and refused to work.

a odmietla spolupracovať.

Ale muži mali lepší nápad.

But the men had a better idea.

They were going to make it fun for me.

Chceli mi z toho urobyť zábavu.

Takže v noci ma učili Scrabble Sprostých slov,

So they were teaching me cuss-word Scrabble at night.

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

a potom, tajne,

And then, secretly, how to swear like a sailor.

nadávať ako námorník.

(Laughter)

Takže to nechám na vašej predstavivosti,

I'm going to just leave it to your imagination

as to what my first words were --

aké boli moje prvé slová,

(Laughter)

when Sally finally got my confidence built.

keď mi Sally konečne dodala sebadôveru.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

So I moved on from there.

Od toho bodu som sa pohla.

And a former teacher who happened to have Alzheimer's

A bývalý učiteľ, ktorý náhodou mal Alzheimera,

took on the task of teaching me to write.

sa podujal naučiť ma písať.

The redundancy was actually good for me.

Opakovanie bolo vlastne pre mňa dobré.

So, we'll just keep moving on.

Takže pôjdeme ďalej.

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

Jedna z rozhodujúcich vecí pre mňa

One of the pivotal times for me

was actually learning to cross the street again

bolo sa znova naučiť prejsť cez cestu

as a blind person.

ako slepý človek.

Takže zatvorte svoje oči.

So close your eyes.

Now imagine you have to cross a street.

Predstavte si teraz, že musíte prejsť cez cestu.

Neviete aká široká je cesta

You don't know how far that street is,

a neviete či idete rovno

and you don't know if you're going straight.

And you hear cars whizzing back and forth,

a môžete počuť autá svištiace tam a späť,

a mali ste strašnú nehodu,

and you had a horrible accident

that landed you in this situation.

pre ktorú ste skončili v tejto situácii.

So there were two obstacles I had to get through.

Takže boli tu dve prekážky, ktoré som musela prekonať.

One was post-traumatic stress disorder.

Jedna z nich bola posttraumatická stresová porucha.

Zakaždým, keď som sa priblížila k rohu alebo obrubníku,

Every time I approached the corner or the curb,

I would panic.

spanikárila som.

And the second one

A druhá vec

was actually trying to figure out how to cross that street.

bolo samotné skúšanie prísť na to, ako cez tú cestu prejsť.

So one of the seniors just came up to me,

Takže jedna zo senioriek prišla ku mne,

and she pushed me up to the corner and said,

a dotlačila ma na roh ulice a povedala,

"Keď si myslíš, že je čas ísť, iba vystrč palicu von pred seba.

"When you think it's time to go, just stick the cane out there.

Ak je palica zrazená, nechoď na cestu."

If it's hit, don't cross the street."

(Laughter)

(Smiech)

Dávalo to perfektný zmysel.

Made perfect sense.

(Laughter)

Pri tretej palici,

But by the third cane that went whizzing across the road --

ktorá zasvišťala cez cestu,

(Laughter)

zistili, že potrebujú dať dokopy nejaké zdroje,

they realized that they needed to put their resources together,

a tak vyzbierali prostiredky,

and they raised funds

so that I could go to the Braille Institute

aby som mohla ísť do Brailovho inštitútu

and actually gain the skills to be a blind person,

a získať schopnosti

byť slepým človekom,

a tiež ísť a dostať vodiaceho psa,

and also to go get a guide dog,

ktorý transformoval môj život.

who transformed my life.

A bola som schopná vrátiť sa na vysokú školu,

And I was able to return to college

práve kvôli dôchodcom, ktorí investovali do mňa,

because of the senior citizens who invested in me,

and also the guide dog and skill set I had gained.

môjho vodiaceho psa a schopností, ktoré som získala.

Ten years later, I gained my sight back.

10 rokov neskôr som získala svoj zrak späť.

Nie magicky.

Not magically --

Podujala som sa na 3 operácie,

I opted in for three surgeries,

a jedna z nich bola experimentom.

and one of them was experimental.

Bola to vlastne robotická operácia.

It was actually robotic surgery

that removed a hematoma from behind my eye.

Odstránili hematóm za mojim okom.

Najväčšou zmenou pre mňa bolo,

The biggest change for me was that the world moved forward,

že svet sa pohol dopredu,

že tu boli inovácie

that there were innovations and all kinds of new things --

a nové veci všetkého druhu --

mobily, laptopy,

cellphones, laptops,

všetky tieto veci, ktoré som nikdy predtým nevidela.

all these things that I had never seen before.

And as a blind person,

A ako slepý človek,

your visual memory fades,

vaša vizuálna pamäť sa stráca

a je nahradená tým, ako veci cítite,

and is replaced with how you feel about things

ako veci znejú

and how things sound

a ako veci voňajú.

and how things smell.

So one day, I was in my room

Jeden deň som bola vo svojej izbe

a videla som v nej sedieť túto vec

and I saw this thing sitting in my room.

a myslela som si, že je to netvor.

I thought it was a monster,

so I was walking around it.

Takže som okolo toho kráčala.

And I go, "I'm just going to touch it."

A povedala som si, "Iba sa toho dotknem."

And I touched it and I went,

A dotkla som sa toho a zistila som,

"Oh my God, it's a laundry basket."

"Môj bože, je to kôš na prádlo."

(Smiech)

(Laughter)

Všetko je odlišné,

Everything is different when you're a sighted person,

keď ste vidiaci človek,

pretože to beriete ako samozrejmosť.

because you take that for granted.

Ale, keď ste slepí,

But when you're blind, you have the tactile memory for things.

máte pre veci hmatovú pamäť.

Najväčšou zmenou pre mňa bolo sa pozrieť dole na moje ruky

The biggest change for me was looking down at my hands

and seeing that I'd lost 10 years of my life.

a vidieť, že som stratila 10 rokov môjho života.

I thought that time had stood still for some reason

Myslela som si, že z nejakého dôvodu pre mňa čas stál

and moved on for family and friends.

a išiel pre moju rodinu a priateľov.

But when I looked down,

Ale keď som sa pozrela dole,

I realized that time marched on for me, too,

zistila som, že čas plynul pre mňa rovnako

and that I needed to get caught up.

a že som ho potrebovala dobehnúť,

So I got going on it.

tak som sa do toho pustila.

My sme nemali slová ako outsourcing and radikálna spolupráca,

We didn't have words like "crowdsourcing" and "radical collaboration"

keď som mala moju nehodu.

when I had my accident.

Ale koncept sa potvrdil --

But the concept held true --

people working with people to rebuild me;

ľudia spolupracujúci s ľudmi na mojej obnove,

people working with people to reeducate me.

ľudia spolupracujúci s ľudmi na mojom znovuvzdelaní.

Nestála by som tu dnes,

I wouldn't be standing here today

nebyť extrémne radikálnej spolupráce.

if it wasn't for extreme radical collaboration.

Thank you so much.

Ďakujem vám veľmi pekne.

(Applause)

(Potlesk)