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Jessie's Story
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As the light of a warm summer day was fading on the beach
near Pensacola, Florida, Jessie Arbogast was frolicking in the knee-high water
of the Gulf Island National Seashore. He had
come to spend the day with his aunt and uncle, Diana and Vance Flosenzier of
Mobile, Alabama, his siblings and his cousins.
Vance was on the beach when he heard someone yell, "Shark" and a scream. When he turned toward the water he saw a growing pool of blood near where his daughters and nephew, Jessie, were playing. Then he saw the 200-lb, 6 1/2 foot bull shark and it clamped it's massive jaws down on Jessie's arm. Vance ran into the water and grabbed the base of the shark's tail, essentially rendering it powerless. Thus began a life and death tug-of-war over Jessie. On the second tug, the shark came free. Little did Vance know, that this meant the shark had severed Jessie's arm, approximately midway between the shoulder and elbow. In addition, a large piece of his right thigh was torn out. Jessie fell back into the arms of another swimmer, who essentially saved Jessie from drowning. |
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| In the short time it took his rescuers to get him to shore, Jessie had lost so much blood that there was essentially none flowing from the gaping wounds. Jessie lost consciousness. His aunt, took beach towels and tied off his arm and leg and then began CPR on him. | |
| A call to 911 brought a helicopter from Baptist Flight to the scene. When the helicopter arrived with Dr. Greg Smith and paramedic Chris Warnock, who asked about Jessie's arm. At that time, no one had any idea what had happened to it. Because saving Jessie's life was paramount, they did a "scope and run" where they did not do anything procedures on the scene, but rather scoped up Jessie and ran with him to the hospital. | |
| With the wind the helicopter fought on the way to the beach now behind them, they arrived at Baptist Hospital in just a couple of minutes. During this time, Jessie's uncle wrestled the shark to shore, where it was shot four times by local ranger Jared Klein. A volunteer fire fighter, Tony Thomas, used an expandable baton to pry open the shark's mouth with a pair of hemostats and retrieve Jessie's arm. Wrapped in moist towels and packed in ice, the arm was taken by ambulance to the hospital. | |
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Even as they were flying, there was grave concern for Jessie. He had no pulse
and was clinically dead.
With the arrival of Jessie's arm, doctors had two very complex issues in front of them. The first was obviously the most important thing and that was saving Jessie's life. He had essentially lost most of his blood and was without a pulse for almost 30 minutes. Since it was bitten of fairly cleanly, plastic surgeon Dr. Ian Rogers had a good place to start. After over 11 hours of surgery, the doctors had successfully re-attached his arm.(details of the surgery can he found here.) | "He was white as a ghost, a paleness that comes only from blood loss," Smith said. "I was not optimistic." |
| At this point Jessie was alive, with his arm re-attached. However, going so long without blood, there was likely to be damage to all of his organs including his brain. Although he was alive, the doctor had no idea to the extent of the damage caused by the massive blood lost. | |
| By Sunday, Jessie was strong enough to move from Baptist Hospital to Sacred Heart Hospital, as they had the only pediatric intensive care unit in the area. Despite this, Jessie was still in critical condition. Plus, the first signs of damage were beginning to show themselves as kidney failure and Jessie was put on dialysis. | |
| In the next couple days, Jessie showed signs of improving. However, the biggest concern was the organ damage, particular what might have happened to Jessie's brain. One thing organ's do in the healing process is to swell. If Jessie's brain were to swell to the point where the pressure in his brain was greater than the blood pressure, no blood could reach the brain and Jessie would die. | |
| On Tuesday July 10, Jessie went back into surgery to do some repair work on the injured arm and leg. Part of this was to remove dead skin and make a skin graft for his leg from pig skin. | |
| On Wednesday, a CAT scan was done on Jessie's brain. To the relief of doctors and Jessie's family, there were no signs of swelling. This was significant because brain swelling could have been fatal. In addition, the lack of any swelling gave doctors hope that there might be no brain damage at all. The rest of Jessie's organs were still not functioning correctly. However, these too were improving every day. | |
| By Wednesday evening, Jessie was starting to respond to commands. This demonstrated neurological improvement. By Friday, Jessie was taken off the respirator, which means he was able to breath on his own. He moved from a deep coma to a light coma was responding to pain and stimulation. This improvement continue on through the weekend. | |
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In the next few weeks Jessie's condition improved steadily. He began reacting
to outside stimuli, but it was still unclear as to what extent. His eyes are
open and his parents take Jessie for strolls in his wheel chair around the
intensive care unit.
By the beginning of August, Jessie had improved to the point where he was focusing on the objects around him. Although still not clear the extent to which Jessie is aware of things around him, he is continues to make a steady recovery. On August 12, 2001 he was released from the hospital and returned home in an ambulance. | "It is amazing that Jessie survived and made it out of the hospital. He obviously is a fighter, so we have hope he will make more progress in the months to come." - Sacred Heart pediatric neurologist Dr. Tim Livingston. |
| Jessie's amazing rescue and the recovery he has made to this date are exceptional stories in their own right. However, Jessie's story goes far beyond the Florida coast line and the walls of Sacred Heart Hospital. In fact, the story goes as far away as Jessie's hometown of Ocean Springs, Mississippi and the sounding area. | |
| When the people of Ocean Springs and nearby towns, such as Biloxi, heard the news, they were more than ready to help. Jessie and his family are well-known and well-liked, and it was natural for the people of their community to want to help. Of course, the members of their church keep Jessie in their prayers. However, the flood of support came from all over the community in a number of different forms is truly inspirational.. | |
| A fund was set up at a local bank by Jessie's grandmother. A car wash was organized, which collected more than $2000 and a benefit breakfast served more than 300 people and raised more than $1000. An auction was held, which collected more than $7000! Plus a number of blood drives have been set up. Interestingly, the donators want the blood to be shipped to the hospital where Jessie is at and not used locally. | |
| Although Jessie has been making a slow and steady recovery, the biggest danger is perhaps the fact that as a result of the attack, Jessie lost almost all of his blood and the chance of brain damage is great, but the doctors are still optimistic. Now it is purely a matter of waiting and hoping. | |
| Even as Jessie's condition continues to improve his medical bills continue to rise. Like so many Americans, Jessie's family are without the means the handle situations like this. Therefore, they need our help. I ask all of us to think about helping out in any way we can. If you would like to make a donation, you can do so here. | |
Update - 16 Dec 2002Jessie might be going back to schoolAlthough doctors feel dramatic improvements are unlikely, both teachers and family want him to go back to school next year. Read more.Update - 06 Juli 2002One year later, Jessie can say "Night, Mom."Read Jenny LaCoste's wonderful article.Update - 05 May 2002Small Changes Mark Jessie's ProgressThe Pensacola News Journal has put together a whole section on Jessie, including one article that discuss his most recent improvements.Update - 22 March 2002Jessie continues to improve.Father Martin Gillespie of Jessie's church wrote to me today and said:God is so good! Jessie really looked good, all his color is back. He sits in his wheelchair, and this morning he was happily watching cartoons. He undergoes a full battery of various therapies each day, and he is showing great improvement. He smiles and looks at you when you speak to him, and he seems to understand what is going on around him. Although he has not regained full use or control of his limbs, he is able to move his arms and squeeze your hand. The most important thing is that Jessie is there, and you can see his personality in many simple ways. His father, David, even takes him out for strolls in the wheel chair when the weather permits. We hope and pray that he will continue to improve, but he is and always will be an inspiration to us all. For those who do not believe in miracles, or how good God truly is, only have to take a look at Jessie. That really made my week! It sure helps to know that with all the wars and threats of wars in the world, God is showing the power of love in some many wondrous way. As we give our thanks for all the good in our lives, please let's not forget Jessie and donate a little something to his . Donations have started coming in. Hopefully they will continue as the site grows. Update - 12 January 2002Although not officially released by his family, Jessie apparently can say a
few words. Keep going Jessie!!! Check out two stories on the Clarion-Ledger web site:
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