Shark attack might leave boy with brain damage

Jessie Arbogast is healing well, but virtually every organ in his body was damaged by the significant blood loss.

©Associated Press

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 10, 2001

PENSACOLA -- The reattached arm of an 8-year-old boy attacked by a shark is healing well, but the boy remains unconscious and may have suffered brain damage from blood loss, a doctor said Monday.

"It's going to be a very tough situation to pull him through," said Dr. Rex Northup at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital. "Our hope is we don't see deteriorating or worsening. If we can get another several days behind us where things don't deteriorate, we'll be happy with that."

Jessie Arbogast lost so much blood in the attack that he arrived at the hospital Friday night with no blood pressure and no pulse, causing damage to virtually every organ in his body, Northup said.

He has been undergoing dialysis for kidney failure and was in critical but stable condition Monday.

Dr. Jack Tyson, a trauma surgeon at Baptist Hospital where the arm was reattached, said it was clear the boy was not brain-dead after he and other doctors changed the dressings on his wounds and examined him Monday night.

Northup said a new brain wave study showed he was relatively stable.

"It has the appearance ... of perhaps someone who is in a deep sleep, that there plainly is still electrical activity," Northup said. "He does seem to respond to things that are painful or bothersome to him."

Northup told reporters that circulation in the reattached arm and in the severely gashed leg was good, though he said the boy likely would be unable to use the arm for up to 18 months.

"By no means is he out of the woods," Sacred Heart spokesman Clay DeStafano said. "There's still the possibility that he won't survive at all."

The Ocean Springs, Miss., boy was attacked Friday evening in the surf at the Fort Pickens section of the Gulf Islands National Seashore in the Florida Panhandle.

His uncle, Vance Flosenzier, of Mobile, Ala., wrestled the 7-foot-long bull shark to shore with help from another beachgoer, said Megan MacPherson, a public relations representative for Flosenzier. She said Flosenzier does not want to comment or release any information about himself and that he did not know the identity of the person who helped him.

"He's a big guy. He got hold of it and tossed it ashore," District Ranger Supervisor John Bandurski said of the uncle.

Ranger Jared Klein then shot the shark four times with a 9mm pistol, and pried its jaw open with a police baton. Volunteer firefighter Tony Thomas used a clamp to pull the boy's severed arm out of the shark's gullet.

The boy was airlifted to Baptist Hospital about 30 minutes after the attack, said Tyson, who met him in the emergency room.

"In terms of circulating blood, I think he was fairly empty," Tyson said Monday. "Friday night I had a dead child."

Tyson said Flosenzier and his wife, Diana, were heroes because they immediately tied off his wounds with towels and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, giving him a chance to survive injuries that ordinarily would have been fatal.

Northup said Jessie is not yet coherent but added he is not sure how much of it is because of sedation.

"He has done a little bit of a spontaneous eye opening and blinking of his eyes, but at this point is not coherent or following commands," Northup said.

Northup said Jessie has undergone surgery six times and was due to undergo another surgical procedure on his leg.

"We remain cautiously optimistic . . . both in regards to the survivability of his extremities and his overall survival."

Last year, 34 shark attacks were reported in Florida, more than two-thirds of the 51 nationwide, according to the International Shark Attack File in Gainesville.

Florida also had the lone U.S. death in August when Thadeus Kubinski, 69, jumped off his St. Petersburg dock into Boca Ciega Bay near a feeding bull shark, the same species that attacked Jessie.

There were 79 unprovoked shark attacks recorded worldwide in 2000. Ten were fatal.

If you want to help

Family members have set up the Jessie Arbogast Medical Fund to receive contributions toward the shark victim's expenses. Donations can be made to account number 012428229, c/o Hancock Bank, P.O. Drawer 609, Ocean Springs, Miss. 39566.

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