Boy in Shark Attack Has Likely Brain Damage

July 11, 2001 -- The 8-year-old boy who had his arm reattached after a shark bit it off, likely suffered brain damage and is in a coma, his doctors said Tuesday.

Jessie Arbogast's arm was severed and a gash was torn in his thigh as he was swimming in shallow surf in the ocean near Pensacola, Fla., on Friday. His uncle pulled the 7-foot-long, 250 pound shark from the water to recover the arm from the creature's jaws. Police released a tape of the 911 call placed by the uncle as others tried to revive the boy.

Jessie, of Ocean City, Miss., is in critical but stable condition, recovering from damage to virtually every organ of his body as a result of losing nearly all his blood in the attack. Dr. Tim Livingston said Tuesday afternoon that Jessie appeared to have avoided potentially fatal brain swelling but did seem to suffer a brain injury.

"He likely has suffered a brain injury and that very well could be significant for him," Livingston said. "We do have evidence that his brain is not functioning correctly."

Livingston added that it was too early to determine the extent of the brain damage. Jessie, he said, underwent more dialysis for kidney failure and surgery to place temporary grafts on his leg wound.

Cautious Optimism

Dr. Rex Northup at Sacred Heart Children's Hospital told reporters earlier in the day that circulation in the boy's reattached arm and in his severely wounded leg was good, but the main battle was on a different front.

Despite concerns about brain damage, Northrup said the boy had shown enough positive signs — including a general stabilizing of his condition, breathing occasionally rising above the level of the ventilator he is on and nearly normal blinking of his eyes — that there were reasons to be hopeful of a recovery.

"The term 'cautious optimism' seems an appropriate phrase with him," Northrup said.

Heroic Save

Dr. Ian Rogers, a plastic surgeon at Pensacola's Baptist Hospital who helped reattach Jessie's arm, told ABCNEWS' Good Morning America he is hopeful the boy can regain near normal use of his arm in 12 to 18 months, with extensive therapy.

Jessie was splashing in knee-deep surf on Friday evening when a 7-foot-long bull shark bit through his right arm above the elbow and ripped into his right thigh.

His uncle, Vance Flosenzier, jumped in the water at Gulf Islands National Seashore and grabbed the boy, and then dragged the 250-pound shark on to the beach.

"He's a big guy. He got hold of it and tossed it ashore," District Ranger Supervisor John Bandurski told The Associated Press.

A ranger then shot the shark four times with a 9 mm pistol, and pried its jaw open with a police baton.

Pensacola beach volunteer firefighter Tony Thomas used a clamp to pull the boy's severed arm out of the shark's gullet.