Ana Laura dando aula na Califórnia, em foto de Deb Blyth.
“I was very moved by the article on Ana Laura Cordeiro,” begins reader Fábio Machado (Omar Salum/Champion Team), from the Brazilian city of Belém. He refers to the interview in the issue of GRACIEMAG now in bookstores featuring the undefeated Gracie Barra competitor, who is dealing with a serious injury.
“I’m not a competitor, but I practice the gentle art, and I, too, have a herniated disc the same size as the champion’s, and it causes unbearable pain, even causing a loss of reflex in my left leg.
“I took really powerful pain killers, even morphine-based ones, and I tried treatments and alternatives of all kinds. I can tell you that, having a disc herniated to that degree, it’s best to undergo surgery. I underwent surgery on October 14 and in less than twenty-four hours I was already walking and the next day I left the hospital.
“For sure Ana’s physical conditioning is infinitely better than mine and she would recover from surgery very quickly.
“My doctor, Dr. Eric Paschoal, opted to operate without sectioning the muscles of the lower back, which made the doctor’s job harder for him (it was more than four hours of work), but it speeds up the patient’s recovery process. Now I no longer feel any pain and soon I’ll begin physical recovery.
“I hope my experience will encourage our champion and may she soon return to the mat too the joy of gentle art lovers, and the terror of her opponents.”