Nurses on picnic help man after gator bites off arm

[CuriousAnne]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/17/gator.attack/index.html

Bill Hedden, 59, was snorkeling in a South Carolina lake on Sunday when the 12-foot-long gator attacked, according to witnesses.

"Suddenly we had commotion and we saw a guy right here. He's bleeding profusely. We thought he was just kidding," witness Jerome Bien told CNN affiliate WCSC-TV in Charleston.

Warning - graphic photos at link below:

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/17/mans_arm_salvaged_alligators_belly/

MONCKS CORNER — They were feasting on roast pork and dancing the Macarena while picnicking at Lake Moultrie on Sunday afternoon when a man in snorkel gear stumbled through the tree line, grasping at his left shoulder where his arm used to be.

 

[montana_16]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/17/gator.attack/index.html

Bill Hedden, 59, was snorkeling in a South Carolina lake on Sunday when the 12-foot-long gator attacked, according to witnesses.

"Suddenly we had commotion and we saw a guy right here. He's bleeding profusely. We thought he was just kidding," witness Jerome Bien told CNN affiliate WCSC-TV in Charleston.

Warning - graphic photos at link below:

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/17/mans_arm_salvaged_alligators_belly/

MONCKS CORNER — They were feasting on roast pork and dancing the Macarena while picnicking at Lake Moultrie on Sunday afternoon when a man in snorkel gear stumbled through the tree line, grasping at his left shoulder where his arm used to be.

How in the world do the two sentences" He was bleeding profusely" and "We thought he was just kidding " go together?!?:doh:

Anyway, thank goodness for the nurses who were there and the way they helped save his life.

He was snorkeling in an area that is absolutely off limits and have signs saying so. I hope people don't start a big uproar about killing off alligators now.

It's interesting to read the comments section after the story because you get the perspective of people who live in the area and know what they are talking about.

 

[southcitymom]

Wow - the pictures are graphic - that one with the gator swimming with the man's arm in his mouth is crazy. Prayers for this man and his family.

 

[dingo]

You-re not wrong South..how terrifiing for that poor man..my prayers go to him and his family aswell

 

[CuriousAnne]

Nurses call man's survival a miracle
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/18/nurses_call_mans_survival_miracle16326/
Five local nurses didn't know what was happening when a bleeding man staggered toward them calling for help and then collapsed — but they knew what to do.


Man tried to steer clear of gators
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/18/man_tried_steer_clear_gators16311/
Mark Hedden said he was surprised to learn that an 11-foot, 10-inch alligator tore his brother's arm off Sunday afternoon while he was snorkeling at Short Stay Naval Recreational Park, an area of Lake Moultrie where alligator sightings are common.

"He avoids them," Mark Hedden said. "It's pretty ironic that (this happened to) someone who avoids them so blatantly."

The retired U.S. Navy master chief was airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina after the attack. Department of Natural Resources officers shot the 550-pound alligator, removed Hedden's arm from its stomach and rushed it to the hospital with a police escort.

Doctors: Man's arm can't be 'replanted'
http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/18/doctors_mans_arm_cant_be_replanted16300/

"Sadly, this fellow's fate was sealed the moment the alligator took his arm off at the level of his shoulder," Freshwater said.

Alligator bites often leave a great deal of tearing that make reattachments difficult. In 2003, a 72-year-old Florida woman lost an arm to a gator as she was clearing leaves from a pond's edge. Sheriff's deputies found the arm, but doctors could not replant the limb. Another Florida resident lost his right forearm in the same manner a year earlier.