State: Shark victim's kidneys failing

Jessie Arbogast

PENSACOLA -- The 8-year-old boy whose arm was reattached after a shark attack, was suffering from renal failure Sunday, a hospital official said.

A 7-foot bull shark severed Jessie Arbogast's right arm and tore off one-third of his thigh, which left his body nearly drained of blood after the horrific attack Friday night at Gulf Islands National Seashore, just west of Pensacola.

Jessie was moved from Baptist Hospital to Sacred Heart Children's Hospital to treat his kidney failure, said Clay DeStefano, a Sacred Heart spokesman. Both hospitals are in Pensacola.

"It was decided this morning based on the seriousness of his condition that he needed to be transferred here," DeStefano said, adding that Baptist Hospital was not equipped to handle renal failure. "This is where he should have been from the beginning."

DeStefano said Jessie had undergone dialysis and was still in very critical condition late Sunday.

A Baptist Hospital news release said the boy "shows no sign of failure of blood supply to the arm; he shows no sign of infection. He is showing signs of recognizing his family."

Surgeons, who operated for 11 hours to reattach Jessie's arm, said he may need up to 18 months to regain use of the limb.

The boy's parents declined to comment, choosing not to identify him or themselves.

Members of the boy's extended family in his hometown of Ocean Springs, Miss., said Jessie is the son of David and Claire Arbogast.

On Friday, Jessie was spending the day with his aunt and uncle, Diana and Vance Flosenzier of Mobile, Ala., at Langdon Beach in the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

About 7:30 p.m., while wading in knee-deep water, Jessie was attacked by the bull shark.

Jessie's uncle immediately grabbed the shark, according to District Ranger Supervisor John Bandurski.

"He just wrestled it," Bandurski told the Pensacola News Journal. "He's a big guy. He got hold of it and tossed it ashore."

When they got Jessie to shore, he wasn't breathing. His aunt began breathing into his mouth and his uncle started pumping on his chest.

Jessie still had no pulse and no blood pressure when he was airlifted to the hospital at 8:19 p.m., according to Jack Tyson, a trauma surgeon who later took part in reattaching the arm.

Jared Klein, a ranger for about five years, arrived at the beach and was told that the boy's arm was in the shark's mouth. He said later that he knew if they could retrieve the arm, there was a chance it could be reattached.

Klein shot the shark four times in the head with his 9mm pistol. When the animal started moving more slowly, Klein pried open the mouth and stuck in his police baton.

Pensacola Beach volunteer firefighter Tony Thomas used a medical clamp to reach in and pull the boy's severed arm out of the shark's gullet.

"We weren't sure it was dead," Bandurski said of the shark.

The arm was packed in ice and placed in an ambulance escorted by a sheriff's cruiser. When the cruiser rear-ended a motorist on the Pensacola Bay Bridge, the ambulance sped on toward the hospital.

Three surgeons and a large surgical support team then worked 11 hours through Friday night to late Saturday morning, first resuscitating the boy, then reattaching the arm that had been severed between the elbow and shoulder.

The reattachment process was begun by Juliet De Campos, an orthopedic surgeon, who shortened the bone and installed a plate as a rigid base for the soft-tissue connections. Ian Rogers, a plastic surgeon, then reconnected arteries, veins, muscles and nerves.

Rogers said he's hopeful Jessie could regain near normal use of his arm in 12 to 18 months, with extensive therapy.

The shark bite on the leg took most of the muscles that straighten the knee, De Campos said.

"He should have a normally growing limb, which will function sub-optimally," she said.

Tyson said it was too early to tell if the boy may have suffered any brain damage from the lack of a pulse.

In Ocean Springs, Mona Perez, Jessie's second-grade teacher at Magnolia Elementary School, said Saturday that she worried all day that the victim might be one of her students. Then she found out that was the case.

"Science is his favorite subject. He's such a sweet, wonderful, happy-go-lucky child. He kept to himself in class, but he's intelligent and well-rounded. It's hard to believe something like this could happen," she said.

Dewayne Williams, a neighbor, described Jessie as "a nice boy, quiet and courteous."

"It's a real shame," said Williams, "but it's in the Lord's hands. With the grace of God, hopefully he can overcome this."

- Information from Knight Ridder and Associated Press was used in this report.

When sharks attack

Florida had 34 unprovoked shark attacks last year out of 79 reported around the world, according to the International Shark Attack File. At least eight shark bites have been reported this year along Florida's Atlantic coast. Shark bites are far less common on the Gulf Coast. A St. Pete Beach man was one of 10 people worldwide to die of a shark attack last year, but the only fatality in the United States. Thadeus Kubinski died last August in Pinellas County after he jumped off his dock near a feeding bull shark in Boca Ciega Bay.

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Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk