Tiago Monteiro, the crash | Episode 2: The recovery

The first few days were really hard because I couldn't breathe very well, I couldn’t speak. I could speak but I couldn’t articulate very well what I wanted to say. But I could speak all my languages, I was able to speak in Spanish, in Italian, that part was okay, I could move everything as well so I was happy with that but it was just that I had a huge, huge headache. Every time I opened my eyes I felt sick, I could see double and I felt sick, I wanted to throw up every time. The first three or four days were just trying to recover those essential feelings like breathing properly, I could not eat or drink very well for the first four or five days so I was just trying to recover that. I couldn’t sleep for more than 15 minutes in a row, my headache would wake me up and you’re getting tired, more nervous, more upset and everything makes it so much harder. You think about will I speak again, will I see again, will I move again, I was happy that I had nothing in my spine, I had no numbness, I could move my arms and my legs, I could move everything, but I could feel there was something wrong for sure. But then my father came, my wife came, some friends started to come and see you and talk to you. It was nice to receive some visits, I started to receive… even though I was intensive car for almost two weeks I suppose. When I finally got released from Barcelona and got flown from Barcelona to Portugal that was an important step psychologically because everything feels much better, you come back close to your family, when we start to get into the third week almost, started to stand up, started to move again, started to read all the amazing messages I got by email, by WhatsApp and everything, it was so overwhelming, so nice that so many people are thinking of you whether it’s friends, friends you haven’t seen for ages, or fans, it was really again an extra motivation. These kinds of messages really help you and the motivation really pushes you forward. As I said every week there was a kind of evolution. When it started to come close to the fourth week that’s when your body really started to heal in a way. To be honest the last four weeks have been very tough, I have been through lots of different phases, every week was a different phase but if you ask me now it’s a huge evolution, especially the last four or five days physically things have been getting much better, which motivates me because now I feel like things are going in the right direction. For the first few weeks the evolution is very slow but now it’s getting much, much better and faster.

Connect with the FIA WTCC
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WorldTouringCarChampionship/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fia_wtcc
Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/fia_wtcc
Instagram: https://instagram.com/FIA_WTCC
Website: https://www.fiawtcc.com/