André Gayoso in hospital after his jaw was reconstructed (Image: André Gayoso/SWNS)
A man underwent reconstructive surgery using bone from his leg to rebuild half his jaw after falling onto a metal bar while pursuing the thief who had stolen his phone. André Gayoso, 35, was returning home following an evening out in São Paulo, Brazil, when a motorcyclist rode past and grabbed his mobile from his hand as he waited for an Uber.
He ran after the criminal but fell face-first onto a metal bar positioned outside a shopfront during the pursuit. The impact left him in a coma for 13 days with a fractured lower jaw, alongside the loss of six teeth.
His chin required reconstruction using bone and skin taken from his right leg, and he has undergone 11 corrective operations to date. André had been in São Paulo promoting his sunglasses brand and remarked they were the sole personal possession to emerge from the accident without “a scratch”.
André, a business owner from São Paulo, said: “It was very hard. When I woke up it was very scary because I couldn’t talk because I’d lost part of my jaw and mouth and I couldn’t move.
“I’d been in the coma for 13 days, so I’d lost all muscle mass. I lost around 20kg in 13 days.
André Gayoso after his jaw was reconstructed (Image: André Gayoso/SWNS)
“They wiped out my bank accounts, some crypto and my US bank account clean. It took me a month to get my stuff back in order.
“Honestly, I don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel, I imagine it. I have a purpose, that helps a lot. Also I am a very upbeat guy and I always look on the bright side, it’s the correct way to look at life.”
André was making his way home in October 2022 after a night out clubbing when a cyclist grabbed his phone from his grasp while he was waiting for an Uber.
“I started walking and then waiting for my Uber and I lose my memory there walking towards the Uber,” he said. “I don’t remember anything afterwards, I woke in the ICU 13 days later.
“What I heard happened because I became quite well known – people did notice me and some of them were there that day because the story got really big in Brazil. They took the phone from my hand and I started chasing him.
André Gayoso after his jaw was reconstructed (Image: André Gayoso/SWNS)
“A bartender handed me a broom handle and I have a distinct memory of trying to use it as a spear to jab the wheel of the bicycle, but I’m pretty sure I had to get at least parallel with the guy to execute the throw. That’s probably what I was trying to do and either I was turning a corner or going through a tight space with stands and stores to the right.
“People were coming upward and I was going downhill on the road. I tried to dodge them, tripped and hit my head and chin on a square metal bar put there in front of the shops used to keep robbers from breaking in.”
Fortunately, André was merely 600 metres from a nearby hospital, where he was rushed for treatment. He remained in the ICU for a week, accumulating “enormous” medical bills, with the “big surgeries” funded by his health insurance, though all other minor treatments he is covering out of his own pocket.
He carried on producing his sunglasses while in hospital. “In the ICU my mum came and said ‘here’s your watch, here’s your shoes that came back, your pants and shirt were cut so they didn’t come back’, he said. “And then ‘oh last thing, your sunglasses are here’.
“There was not a single scratch on them or anything. Then I understood they were not going to break almost at all – I later drove cars over them and they didn’t break.”
André has since undergone 11 corrective operations to rebuild his chin, with surgeons initially attempting a skin graft taken from his left forearm, which proved unsuccessful. Requiring 7cm of bone to be replaced in his chin, doctors were left with no option but to harvest from his right fibular bone in an 11-hour procedure.
He subsequently had prosthetic teeth fitted and a further three plastic surgeries to reduce the width of his mouth and improve his speech, as it was “too wide”. André also required a tracheostomy for 11 months to ensure he could breathe throughout his numerous operations.
“My last surgery was December 2025 so far,” he said. “Now I have more stuff to do, like laser to take the hair out of my lip because the skin on my lip is skin from my leg from my fourth surgery.
“I need laser to destroy the follicles of hair that are in my lip. Now I’m waiting to do another session for micropigmentation to make my lip look red again and then have beard and hair implants. I lost a lot of hair as 11 surgeries is too much stress on my body.”
Concentrating on growing his sunglasses label AAGYO — which currently boasts three distinct styles — he is hoping to launch additional designs later this year.
