Shark Attack Victim Leaves Fla. Hospital
P E N S A C O L A, Fla., Aug. 12 -- An 8-year-old boy who survived a sharkattack with a reattached arm was released today from the hospitalwhere he had been in a light coma for more than a month.
Jessie Arbogast was placed into a white and orange ambulance atSacred Heart Children's Hospital shortly before 10:40 a.m. anddriven away, bound for his hometown of Ocean Springs, Miss., 96miles from Pensacola, according to a source familiar with thetransportation arrangements. It wasn't immediately clear if Jessie was being taken home or toanother hospital. Hospital spokesman Michael Burke declined to saywhere Arbogast was being taken, pending a statement later in theday. Burke said the boy's condition was "pretty much the same as itsbeen over the last few days."
Serious Condition; Light Coma
An update on Jessie's condition Saturday on the hospital Website said he was still in serious condition and in a light coma. A 6½-foot long bull shark took off Jessie's right arm and tore alarge chunk of muscle from his right thigh while the boy was in thewaters off Langdon Beach in the Fort Pickens area of the GulfIslands National Seashore on July 6. His uncle, Vance Flosenzier, of Mobile, Ala., grabbed theshark's tail as Jessie cried "He's got me, get him off me,"according to a National Park Service report. Jessie was freed when his arm came off in the shark's mouth. Abystander carried him to shore while Flosenzier dragged the sharkonto the beach. A ranger and volunteer firefighter later removedthe arm from the fish's gullet. It was reattached at Baptist Hospital where Jessie was initiallyflown by helicopter across Pensacola Bay from the barrier islandbeach. Jessie was transferred to Sacred Heart's pediatric intensivecare unit two days after the attack when his kidneys failed due toextensive blood loss, which also caused the coma. His kidneys have since improved and he no longer needs dialysis.Doctors say Jessie also has been making neurological progress, butthat recovery could take up to a year.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live