Keeping carriage returns in SQL for HTML display without additional markup?

I am writing an application where a user enters text into a textbox inside a form and the text is stored in a SQL db inside a MEDIUMTEXT field. I am testing right now so the table only has 2 field "1" for the index and "2" for the stored text.

<form method="post" action="index.php" enctype="multipart/form-data" >
<h3>Input Text Here</h3>
<textarea name="text" cols="40" rows="6" ></textarea><br/>
<input type="submit" value="Submit" />
</form>

The stored text then is retrieved in another page and displayed.

<?php
$query = "SELECT * FROM test_table WHERE 1='1'";
$result = mysql_query($query);
if (!$result) die ("Database access failed: " . mysql_error());
$results = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC);
echo $results['2'];
if(isset($_POST['text'])) {
echo printText($_POST['text']);

function printText($txt) {
if(!empty($txt)) {
return $txt;
} else {
return 'You didn\'t write anything.';
}
}
}
?>

The problem is that when the text is displayed all the carriage returns disappear and multiple paragraphs become one.

Can anybody guide me in the appropriate direction? Should I be using regular expressions looking for carriage returns and marking them up? Is there a less search intense method? I tried nl2br(), but I guess you need actual \n entries for it to work.

I am writing this for someone to easily update a "news blub" on their landing page without having to use a text editor and writing code.

Thanks!