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It was a moment, said Ortiz, who changed his life forever.
In an interview at Fenway Park, Ortiz spoke about the crime and the investigation, the Samaritan who rescued her, who drove her to the hospital, her three surgeries and her infection potentially life-threatening, and how differently he sees the world.
"People have to understand, this is not a film in which we get shot in the street and we come back two minutes later," said Ortiz. "No, I got shot and almost died. I only have one life to live. I can not just go to the pharmacy and buy another one. "
As a gritty videotape of the shoot, Ortiz collapsed on the wooden floor of the bar a few seconds after the shot. It was around 9:20 pm, more than two hours after arriving in this city, to meet Jhoel Lopez, a Dominican TV host and longtime friend, Sixto David Fernandez, who runs a car paint shop.
At the sound of the ball, customers scattered, including Ortiz's companions – even the injured Lopez. Ortiz remained alone, writhing on the ground, badly injured.
"So this angel comes from nowhere," he said.
The angel, a Dial Bar boss named Eliezer Salvador, helped Ortiz sit at the back of his Rolls-Royce SUV. The vehicle was cashed by other cars parked, Salvador cleared his way out of space, sending Ortiz back to his seat.
They headed quickly to a public hospital, but changed course when Ortiz asked to be taken to a private clinic that he attended. He remained standing and aware that Salvador, who himself had been hit by a bullet in his stomach, was speeding through the traffic.
"He knew how to react," said Ortiz. "He kept talking to me to be sure to stay awake."
The 43-year-old retired slugger remembers being alert enough to know he was shot, but he did not understand much about his injury or condition.
"To be honest, I did not want to watch it," he said. "I do not even remember how much I bled."
He nevertheless remembers the pain that appeared: in the next half hour, the clinic staff evaluated and prepared him for the operating room, and then waited for the surgeons to arrive .
When he had surgery, Ortiz said, "Do not let me die, please. I have four children. I want to be with them. ''
The doctors operated on his severely damaged intestines and liver and removed the gall bladder. In the morning, the Red Sox had arranged to transport it to the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Before leaving, the Attorney General of the Republic, Jean Alain Rodriguez, asked him at his bedside about the shooting. This would be his only interview with a law enforcement official about the ambush, according to Ortiz spokesman Joe Baerlein.
"It happened so fast that I felt it did not happen," Ortiz said of the interview. "But that's really the case."
While Ortiz remembers talking to Rodriguez, he does not remember the day after the shooting, other than asking his father, Leo, who was accompanying him on his flight to Boston, to cover his feet when they cold.
"The next thing I knew was going to Mass to get surgery again." General, he said.
Dr. David King, a renowned trauma surgeon, told Ortiz that he needed to intervene to assess the damage and quality of the first surgery.
"They did a very good job, all good," King said, quoted by King, about the Dominican surgical team.
But his recovery was painfully slow. Then, three weeks after the second surgery, Ortiz experienced another life-threatening attack: an acute bacterial infection that severely compromised her digestive system. His fever was so strong that he was shaking with chills, as was the case when he was a child when he was suffering from hypothermia.
The doctors and nurses, despite all their assurances, did not mask the seriousness of his condition.
"It was very dangerous," said Ortiz. "I started to lose hope."
Ortiz became even more depressed when he learned that he needed another urgent surgical procedure. He remembered seeing the fear on his loved ones' faces.
"Everyone was like," Oh [expletive]& # 39; & # 39; & # 39; he said.
In his darkest days after the operation, Ortiz struggled with despair, even in his sleep. In seven weeks he could only swallow pieces of melted ice, with the exception of a small cup of Jell-O and some fruit that he had been vomiting.
Ortiz is fed only tubes and intravenous lines. Her mouth was so dry that she was hurting him.
"I was having nightmares all the time when I was in the desert, looking for water," he said. "I would wake up with a dry mouth and feel like I'm dying."
Ortiz gave birth to a little hope when the medical team told him that he would survive. But he began to prepare for the possibility that he was definitely weakened, that he was never Big Papy again, the robust and charismatic personality whose mind had long raised those who l? around him.
"I felt that if I did not die, I would never be the same," he said. "I lived hell with that."
One day, Ortiz awoke from a nightmare and saw his sister, Albania, sitting near his bed, the Bible open on his lap. He had tubes in his nose and arm. He had lost 40 pounds.
"She was arguing with God, asking for help," he said. "It was upsetting. It hit me hard. ''
Looking back, Ortiz sees this moment as a turning point. It would take him several more days to eat and drink and talk without struggling with his wife, Tiffany, and his family.
"But after that day everything was different," said Ortiz. "I started to get better."
On July 22, nearly seven weeks after being shot, he kept food for the first time: a cup of soup. The fever was gone. The feeding tube had been removed.
"It was a big deal," he said.
Ortiz was no stranger to the mass. General. Through his foundation, the David Ortiz Children's Fund, he donated millions of dollars to the general mass and other medical institutions in the United States and the Dominican Republic to help seriously ill children.
His stay at the hospital was long and grueling, but also encouraging. "They made me feel special there," he said, "but when I noticed that they treated everyone as they treated me, it made me feel better. even happier. "
Nearly one month after his third operation, Ortiz returned home, outside Boston, beginning the next phase of his recovery. Walking, eating, sleeping in one's own bed, spending time with friends: everything seemed to be renewed.
The Yankees came to visit: CC Sabathia, Edwin Encarnacion, Luis Severino, Gary Sanchez. The Phillies too: Jean Segura, Maikel Franco. Also, the Red Sox, past and present, if not in person, then over the phone.
But nothing has completely distracted him from the mystery of why this alien came out of the dark in Santo Domingo that night with malice and gun. To date, nothing in the contradictory conclusions of the Dominican order forces has made sense for him, said Ortiz.
First, the authorities announced that an unspecified person, whose motive was undisclosed, paid a bonus of $ 7,800 to Ortiz's head. Six suspects were arrested and Ortiz said he did not know any of them or why anyone would hurt him.
"I do not know why I've been involved in something like this because I'm not the kind of person who is looking for problems or who's causing it. All I'm concerned about is trying to help people, trying to do what's right, "said Ortiz.
Plus, he joked, "You have to pay a lot more than that to get me killed. I am not so cheap. "
Nearly three weeks later, another announcement was made. Eight other suspects had been arrested – Ortiz said he did not know any of these cases either – and the police concluded that the targeted target was his friend, Fernandez, who was sitting next to him that night.
The bonus granted to Fernandez was close to $ 30,000, the authorities announced. His cousin, an alleged drug dealer, wanted to kill him because he told the police more than eight years ago.
It also does not make sense for Ortiz. Now, one wonders if César Peralta, a pillar of the Dominican drug known as the "Abuser", or his cartel may have been involved in the shooting, which, for Ortiz, also defies logic.
Ortiz also rejected tabloid rumors emanating from social media in the Dominican Republic. One of them hinted that a person trying to hurt him before firing had chased a car that he was driving.
"If it happened to me, the first person I would call would be the president of the Dominican Republic," said Ortiz. "I know that he would do something about it. That's how close we are. "
Last month, Ortiz hired former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis to investigate the shooting. Baerlein said Davis had yet discovered any new significant evidence.
"I want to know who did that," said Ortiz. "I will not sit and relax if someone wants to kill me."
Ortiz now looks a lot like his old self larger than life, although a little more slender. He regained weight and seems to move freely, claiming that he had recently traveled a distance of 5 miles. But filming forced Ortiz to adjust his lifestyle; Unfortunately, he says, he finds himself a little behind.
"I like to kiss people, to put them at ease with me," said Ortiz. "I've always been very approachable, but I think I'm going to reduce that a bit now.
"One of the lessons I learned is that you can not be naive," he said. "There are a lot of things going on now that you need to be aware of. I have to be careful and pay more attention. "
Ortiz expressed his thanks to the Red Sox Nation and other supporters, and said through his spokesman that he was touched by the generosity and kindness of people who have been to him and his family. He is also particularly grateful to John W. Henry and his wife, Linda Pizzuti Henry, for facilitating his emergency flight to Boston. Henry is the main owner of the Sox as well as the owner and publisher of The Globe. Pizzuti Henry is the Executive Director of The Globe.
The Henry recently took David and Tiffany Ortiz to the south of France, where they stayed in the couple's yacht, visited a vineyard and tasted a bottle of wine so extravagant that Ortiz jokingly speculated that he was drawn from "The fountain of youth".
Upon their return, Ortiz made his first major public appearance, throwing a first ceremonial toss at Fenway Park and infusing it with affection.
He plans to leave soon for Los Angeles to resume his role as a Fox Sports analyst during the Major League Baseball heats in October. Then comes a trip to Florida in November for its annual charity golf tournament. One day, he said, he will return to the Dominican Republic, probably safely.
By the time of Thanksgiving, Ortiz said that he hoped to be fully recovered, at least physically. He knows that other scars will persist.
You can contact Bob Hohler at [email protected].
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