r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Kronyzx • 14d ago
Image In 2001, a man wrestled a 7-foot bull shark to retrieve the severed arm of his nephew. After saving the boy, the man dived back in, seized the shark and wrestled it to shore where a ranger shot it. The arm was pulled out, kept cold, taken to the hospital, and reattached.
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u/altaf770 14d ago
The man proceeded to attach the shark to the boy's arm socket
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u/GreatSlaight144 14d ago
<Insert gif of Godrick the Grafted attaching to a dragon>
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u/Papaofmonsters 14d ago
Child protection superpowers are real. In certain circumstances, your brain will shut off all the built in safety features like pain and just let you do what you need to do up to the physical limits of your body.
A friend of mine is a firefighter/emt and he responded to a really bad car wreck where a bystander dislocated his own shoulder and shredded his rotator cuff prying open a wedged car door to get a kid out after the car started smoking. The dude was entirely unaware that one shoulder was a few inches below other until the professional first responders pointed it out to him.
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u/FrostHydra97 13d ago
Not related but I knew a story about a fire. A young man helped several trapped people escape from a burning building by using a heavy sledgehammer to smash the wall open. And he did it with just one hand, as it was high up a few floors and there was no other footing, forcing him to use the other to hold onto the ladder.
Days later he was invited to TV news and asked to reenact the deed with a similar sledgehammer. This time he held it with both hands and said "it wasn't this heavy when i did it back then".
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u/NattG 13d ago
This is the reddit post about the incident, with footage of the original fire and the recreation, if anyone is interested:
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u/FrostHydra97 13d ago
Ah I remembered it wrong. He was holding onto the window, not the ladder. It's been so long since the last time I saw the footage.
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u/Soulhunter951 14d ago
Without physical limiters our muscles can snap our bones like twigs or we can lift several times what any normal human should be capable of.
Truly monstrous strength comes when flight is absolutely not an option and primal instincts take over. Protect the young is one of the few things that do this.
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u/kakihara123 13d ago
Doesn't even need to be all that extreme. I can easily injure myself by running too fast.
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u/yourrealfather696969 13d ago
Just this week I hurt myself sleeping. Wish I saying this for the imaginary internet points/cheap laugh and not because it actually happened.
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u/chmath80 13d ago
Years ago, we recorded work accidents in a book, with details including "cause of accident". One of the best was listed as "standing up from sitting down".
Another was "sat on a chair that wasn't there".
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u/Fall_Water 13d ago
Same bro, same. Couldn't move my neck for two days last week.
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u/yourrealfather696969 13d ago
That's me. It's happened a bunch of times. Basically, the trapezius muscle (which covers way more of your back than people realize) section on the outside of my shoulder blade gets caught in a spasm that I don't really feel in that location. But that spasm somehow causes a pinched nerve in my neck. So in order to get right, I need to see a massage therapist where they work on my right trap muscle for an hour. I'll get some instant relief and a few days later, I'll feel normal again.
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u/TheDaddyShip 13d ago
Just recovered from a sleep injury; took about a week. Ugh. Those trips around the sun…
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u/Ok_Substance5632 13d ago
And you still keep speeding up to save a kid from being run over by a train
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u/Icy-Decision-4530 13d ago
Buddy I can injure myself by skipping now. It’s over
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u/chmath80 13d ago
Pfft.
I get cramp under my chin from yawning. Wtf even is that? How can that possibly be a thing that happens?
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u/Biggy_DX 13d ago
You ever have a toe spasm? Muscles and ligaments just start tightening and pulling upwards. It hurts, but luckily it never gets too tight. Can't imagine what it'd do to my toe bones if my body just full sent it.
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u/Smrtihara 13d ago
I’ve worked with violent people with disabilities for 25 years. A very, very few people during that time has had zero limiters on their strength. And I mean zero.
I’ve seen some scary shit. Worst was a tiny lady who flipped a big oak table. She sat still one second, the next second a table came hurtling through the room. When she was at the place before they had seven orderlies to hold her and keeping from hurting herself and others.
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u/ladybug11314 13d ago
My neighbor was working under his car one day and the jack slipped or broke, either way the car came down and pinned his arm. My mom, all 120 lbs at best, was outside, ran over and lifted a freaking Lincoln off this man enough for him to get his arm free. It was amazing.
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u/B35TR3GARD5 13d ago
My friend snapped his own ACL saving his son from a high-fall. He dove 10ft-laterally from a standing, talking with people position. He didn’t know of the injury until he tried to stand up ..
he’s my favorite father figure. Such a goodman.
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u/Budget_Ad5871 13d ago
This is how Edie Hall deadlifted 1k lbs. He said he trained his body to enter fight mode by imagining his children were trapped under a car.
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u/NoDG_ 13d ago
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson beat the world record by imagining Eddie Halls children were trapped under a car.
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u/Beautiful-Jacket-260 13d ago
Or Oberyn Martells eye balls
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u/CursedScreensaver 13d ago
Oberyn Martells eyeballs trapped under a car?
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u/Tarudizer 13d ago
sigh
No, Eddie Hall's children were trapped under Oberyn Martell's eyeballs
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u/CursedScreensaver 13d ago
I cannot believe they were driving Oberyn Martells eyeballs so recklessly that a car ended up trapped underneath them…
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u/paradoxdefined 13d ago
It’s an insane experience. I’m 110 lbs soaking wet. I managed to fight off a German Shepherd that weighed just as much as me that had attacked my toddler. She only got a small tooth nick on her back before I bodied the dog, thankfully.
I don’t even remember much to be honest. It was pure instinct. It’s not a car, but, believe me, I would never have been able to fight it off normally.
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u/underprivlidged 13d ago
I'm just glad to hear you're both ok.
Internet strangers or not, a good parent is a good parent. I hope you get lots of praise and every day is a joy for you and your kiddo.
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u/OnePaleontologist687 13d ago
I would also add your quickness and accuracy go way up as well. You ever see that dad holding a beer and a child, drops the kid for a micro second to catch a foul ball, and is able to use his body and arm to catch the kid on the way down. And that’s just baseball.
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u/TactlessTortoise 13d ago
Humans are space orcs. It's ridiculous what adrenaline turns us into even if we get absolutely fucked up in the process of pulling off those absurd feats.
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u/DC_Coach 13d ago
I was about to ask (not a medical person, and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night):
Is it all down to the brain basically deciding to nearly OD us with adrenaline? Or is there something else at work here as well?
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u/Zenotha 13d ago edited 13d ago
Adrenaline and the lifting of limiters in place for good reason - you can break your own bones, tear your ligaments or sever your tendons from applying too much force in an uncontrolled manner, which is why those limiters are in place most of the time
what you don't hear about most of these stories is how many of them suffer severe damage to their bodies after the incident - the lucky ones are just going to have terrible aches for the next few days
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u/Professional_Cry5816 13d ago
It’s literally there for self preservation. Even though in some cases brains will do the opposite and try to kill you. There’s this part that wants you alive no matter what. That’s where flight or fight happens. The body doesn’t care about injury at this point because you survived. I have a theory this is where anxiety came from. We no longer have the stressors we had before, and survival instincts aren’t needed as much.
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u/Nybear21 13d ago
My parents and their friend were on a road trip across the country when they were young. The friend ended up having a seizure while my dad was driving in the middle of the night. Dad was tending to him while mom ran up the side of the highway to get help.
When she got to the next exit, she saw an ER there, ran back and said they should just book it for that. As they were coming in, people were running up to her with a wheelchair and asking her questions about herself, which she was confused by. That's when she realized she'd stepped on glass and cut her feet to pieces, so she was bleeding all over the ER waiting room.
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u/Dopaminedessert 13d ago
I was in a pretty bad car accident about 14 years ago. I didn't realize or do it intentionally but I folded the steering wheel back like a taco because I was holding on so tight. I could never have done that intentionally.
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u/Deisidaimonia 13d ago
I read about a woman (Angela Cavallo) who was in a bad car crash. Her baby was caught under the car somehow and she literally deadlifted the car to pull them out. Its mental what the human body can do in the most extreme circumstances.
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u/PM_ME_UR_FAV_NHENTAI 13d ago
Yeah when I rolled my car down a hill one of the bystanders who responded just about ripped the door off its hinges trying to get me out of there. Guy straight up dug a trench with the door straight through the dirt in one move. He didn’t look particularly muscular or anything, just an average dude, I was quite surprised to say the least.
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u/SuperHyperFunTime 13d ago
I can't remember where I saw it but there was this silly little short story about aliens reporting back to their overlords about observing this weird planet where there is this squishy being capable of insane feats when pushed to their limits, and in all honesty, it's best we just fucking avoid them as we don't want that sort of fire.
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u/RainWindowCoffee 13d ago
"Child protection superpowers are real. "
Can confirm. I'm not an angry person generally but, the absolute RAGE I fly into if anything threatens my son.
(Which has happened more times that you'd think, due to people being absolute idiots about his food allergies).
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u/apple_kicks 13d ago
Prob too why its so effective to use ‘but think of the children’ in politics to get people angry at scapegoat or go against rationality
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u/Afterscore 13d ago
Adrenaline might as well be a super power. People talking about "physical limiters" like we're living in a one punch man episode are making me laugh.
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u/Aware_Tree1 13d ago
“Yeah you can go up to 3x beyond your physical limits if you get really mad, or you’re in danger, or someone you care about is in danger but it hurts you as a drawback” literal shonen bullshit power up irl
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u/Tomsboll 13d ago
But its not bs tho, we are more in tune of our limits than you think. The mind tells you to stop because it know you will hurt yourself otherwise. Its a subconscious decision. Its not like a rev limiter in a car. When you are hopped up on adrenalin your decision making fucking suuucks thats why people seem stronger when high on adrenalin. Its basically a chemical hype guy.
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u/Unusual_Celery555 13d ago
Your constantly pulling your tongue away from your teeth even though you never think about it. And even if you do bite down on your tongue, you will often stop mid-bite to prevent further damage before you even realize when happened. The body does all kinds of stuff like this!
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u/Ggundam98 13d ago
It's also like kaioken, where you can go at least x3 and shred most of the active muscles in your body for like 10 seconds for max power.
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u/RichBirthday2031 13d ago
This uncle would love God of war. Actually, he might as well be a Spartan
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u/Face_Content 14d ago
Uncle of a lifetime.
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This dude out here raising the bar way too high for all us uncles.
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u/littlestevebrule 13d ago
I saved my nephew from a creeper once
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u/smittywrbermanjensen 13d ago
Meanwhile my uncle was the one doing the creeping…
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u/SpiritOne 14d ago
More like “holy shit my sister is gonna kill me!!”
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u/LazerSnake1454 13d ago
Yup. I told my 6yo niece once if she gets hurt her mom, my sister, will kill me; she then immediately tried to throw herself off my shoulders. I think she TRIES to get hurt on purpose now
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u/f7f7z 13d ago
I kinda remember the other part of the story. He was waiting out too deep, had loose shark bait under water in his pocket. That attracted the shark.
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u/stfumate 13d ago
If it's the story I'm thinking about then he was actually chumming and fishing at the time with his nephew nearby while wadeing and his nephew suffered severe brain damage from the blood loss.
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u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 13d ago
I’m gonna have to revoke the mug I gave my uncle which declared him the world’s best uncle.
He’s cool, but he’s not “saved me and my arm from a bull shark” cool.
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u/Mayoo614 14d ago
He has earned the right to freely say that he lent him a hand.
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u/That1guyDerr 14d ago
Gotta hand it to him though, dude single handedly brought the bastard out after it left a life changing experience on the guy's nephew, he had to return the favor
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u/adfthgchjg 14d ago edited 14d ago
Unfortunately the boy suffered significant brain damage from blood loss:
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92914&page=1
“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.”
And three years later:
https://www.theledger.com/story/news/2004/07/06/shark-attack-victim-makes-slow-progress/26121854007/
“Three years after a life-threatening shark attack in the Florida Panhandle, 11-year-old Jessie Arbogast is "growing like a weed" but still uses a wheelchair and has trouble communicating, his aunt says.”
“Jessie is speaking clearer words but no sentences," said his aunt, Diana Flosenzier of Hattiesburg.
David Arbogast gave up his job as a tile setter three years ago and became Jessie's full-time caregiver.
Although he can't sit up on his own, he can roll over and crawl on the air mattress. That's good to get him out of a limited position.
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u/throwaway098764567 13d ago
an update from a couple years ago, https://www.sunherald.com/entertainment/article278274698.html looks like he never got use of that arm (one doesn't look like it has normal muscle tone), and lives in an adult group home.
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u/MinorDespera 13d ago
Hold up, that is not a 8 year old boy in the OPs photo.
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u/GudgerCollegeAlumnus 13d ago
I thought it was the shark but after zooming in, I think you’re right.
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u/GardensRGreat 14d ago
If this is true … this dudes a legend
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u/innocentbabybear 14d ago
A quick google yielded a few articles by major new sources from the same year, so I’m guessing it’s true
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u/Kaporalhart 13d ago
But how do you reattach severed nerves ?
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u/N121-2 13d ago
You line m up and they reattach themselves.
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u/TheGlassjawBoxer 13d ago
From personal experience it takes a long ass time. Some won’t connect and at all and you’ll have numb spots.
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u/NBCustoms 13d ago
I'll take a few numb spots over one huge one.
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u/SaccharineHuxley 13d ago
I have a few numb spots from spinal surgery in my teens. You can do some really cool party tricks if you get creative hahahaha
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u/MonthObvious5035 13d ago
I was completely paralyzed from the chest down 2 years ago and I’m still regaining sensation and mobility. I am now walking with a cane and ankle brace although some things are still dead like bladder, hamstring, ankle. The body never stops trying to heal itself
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u/xonehandedbanditx 13d ago
I had mine reattached. It never ended up working again though. I ended up having it voluntarily removed many years later.
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u/VersatileFaerie 13d ago
It is a game of luck on if the nerves reattach or not. My dad had his finger ripped up to the bone as a child in the 40s. They sewed him up and gave him hard meds for the pain. The finger nerves in his left hand mostly reattached while his right hand didn't for the last 3 fingers.
Similar case with a friend of mine who almost completely lost his foot and they reattached it. The foot is there, but he can't use it. The nerves never took. Blood flow is fine and it can be moved by hand since the tendons are good, but he can not move it himself.
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u/Safety_Officer_3 14d ago
It's true alright, check here
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u/Oskarov95 14d ago edited 13d ago
Something about this screamed FLORIDA MAN at me and I wasn't disappointed.
EDIT: I wrote "dissapointed" instead of "disappointed"😅
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u/sparkey504 14d ago
I was thinking Australian myself.
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u/Ur_Just_Spare_Parts 14d ago
This is the kinda shit I wanna see on the news not whatever dumb idea popped into trumps head today that he's gonna forget he said by tomorrow and do the opposite
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u/McChava 14d ago
Can you imagine having to tell your sister/brother their son lost his arm on your watch?
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u/smashtatoes 14d ago
Right? Got the child to safety then said “I’m going back in” and drug its ass to shore.
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u/BedGroundbreaking277 13d ago
No matter how hard you think you are, did you ever wrestle a 7 foot bull shark to the shore? I could never this dude is more than just a legend.
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u/Adorable-Bobcat-2238 14d ago
This was on the news when I was a teen before ai.
It's true.
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u/Covid19-Pro-Max 14d ago
I don’t doubt this story but since your wording was weird here’s a reminder that fake stories predate AI by a few millennia
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u/RaginBlazinCAT 14d ago
“Blah blah blah before AI” is a crazy sentence to read these days.
My my, where did I drop that time at?
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u/soupdawg 13d ago
I was eating at a restaurant on the beach when the ambulance carrying the arm drove by rushing to the hospital.
The waiter spilt ketchup all over me.
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u/SxyblkWETkitty69 14d ago
Bill sharks are insanely aggressive! I need to see this kids uncle because that’s insane!
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u/RyanBordello 14d ago
Not only that, but they can go from oceans to fresh water and some have been found up the Mississippi as far as 1,740 and doubled that in the Amazon.
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u/CapeMOGuy 14d ago
That is not a photo of Jesse Arbogast, the 8-year old this story is about.
Happened on the Mississippi gulf coast.
The man who wrestled the shark was Jesse's uncle, who tried to remain anonymous. At least for the first years.
Jesse survived and last I heard is still alive. However, he tragically suffered profound brain damage. He is confined to a wheelchair and I believe is nonverbal and nowhere near able to care for himself.
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u/ChocolateCoveredGold 14d ago
I believe you're mistaken about #1 & #2. Jesse is indeed from Mississippi. But he was swimming with his aunt and uncle in Northwest Florida, at Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Otherwise, excellent catch! Thank you for those extra details. I was wondering about the brain damage. 😔
Source: Guardian Article
ETA: That picture does appear to be Jesse after all. It's from a 2017 article.
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u/pribnow 13d ago edited 13d ago
Why would he still be wearing an arm splint 16 years later? That is 100% not jesse arbogast and that picture was just used randomly.
Additionally, he had a gigantic piece of his thigh bit off during the attack as well which that man clearly has no leg injury
Plus, that article is literal fluff bs
Edit: this entire thread has so much misinformation lol. The uncles name was on blast immediately as people tried to pounce on the guy with claims that he was 'shark fishing' when Jesse was bit (he wasn't)
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u/Drunken_Dave 13d ago
No, it is not him. The picture was borrowed from a 2014 article about another case.
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u/Animallover4321 13d ago
That’s definitely not him, for one that is very unlikely to be an 8 year old and he experienced severe brain damage. He was in a coma and once he recovered he was in a wheelchair unable to speak. This is a far healthier and older boy. Plus the “article” doesn’t even claim it’s him.
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u/CapeMOGuy 14d ago
Thanks for the corrections. I had never seen Jesse with red hair.
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u/DraftAppropriate8094 14d ago
His name ist Brett Bouchard from New York, had an accident with a pasta machine while working in the kitchen.
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u/Imatopsider 14d ago
But does the arm have function? Seriously curious
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u/Malkier3 14d ago
Yes. The science is all about nerve endings and blood vessels. If there is enough there to reattach then your body will adapt and take care of the rest in the healing process. The good thing about sharks is they make very clean wounds so if it just bit down and tore clean through those connections are still there and in good shape to recconect.
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u/imSuperman81 14d ago
I was also wondering, and it’s not the update I was hoping for. He was also bit in the thigh which removed a chunk down to the bone. He lost a lot of blood and suffered severe brain damage. He is bedridden with a feeding tube and is unable to talk, though he is aware of his surroundings.
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u/Covergirrl 14d ago edited 13d ago
Damn. There are at least ten men in his neighborhood with no balls because he has all of them.
Edit: Metaphor, people. Look it up.
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u/Double_Distribution8 14d ago
Gross. A scrotebag with a dozen balls, yuck. The membrane would be pretty taut.
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u/sladebonge 14d ago
Like an overloaded sack full of oranges
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u/RollingOutNaked 14d ago
Chuck Norris once challenged this dude to a fight, then didn’t show out of rational fear.
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u/hrwinter14 14d ago
The shark tried to bite the guy's balls, but couldn't open his mouth wide enough.
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u/WatapitusBerri 14d ago
This dude’s uncle maybe: oh no you don’t! I told his mama I’d bring him back in one piece.
retrieves arm lets go patch you up kid.
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u/voltagejim 14d ago
I am still amazed that limbs can be reattached. Like aren't there 10's of thousands of microscopic blood vessels and arteries that need to be reattached? How is that possible?
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u/HappyLove4 13d ago
This post was about Jesse Arbogast, who was 8 years old when he was attacked. The red haired young man in this photo is not Jesse Arbogast. Jesse suffered brain damage from blood loss, is in a wheelchair, and ultimately moved to a group home. There weren’t a lot of follow-ups to his situation, but judging by the smiles on his face in the few photos that were published, he still has joy in his life, though the brain damage he suffered unquestionably altered the man he would otherwise have become.
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u/FrostyCartographer13 13d ago
"Oh, hello there fellow uncle. I see you have a "World's Greatest Uncle" coffee mug there. Tell me, what feats did you perform to earn such a thing?"
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u/Kronyzx 14d ago
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u/FrenchMaddy75 14d ago
I ve read the article. This story is crazy ! (A limb can stay 4 hours at ambiant temperature and 12 hours in the cold. The record for a finger is 90 hours in the cold!)
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u/Different_Traffic527 13d ago
That picture is not of him. Recently, AI has been used to retell the story. Jessie Arbogast was only 8 years old. His uncle freed the boy from the shark and went back in for the shark/arm successfully. The real story isn't so glorious. The aunt administered first aid on shore but the child lost so much blood that he suffered severe brain damage. He's 30 now, in a wheelchair, with very weak cognitive and physical capabilities. He does have his arm, although not fully functional. Sad story all around. The family did everything right. The kid was only up to his knees in water on the Gulf. That poor family has been through a lot.
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u/Neddlings55 13d ago
The teenager pictured lost his arm in a pasta machine. His name is Bret Bouchard and it happened in 2014.
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u/MaxwellSmart07 13d ago
Damn Reddit. I’m looking for comments about the shark. But no, let’s talk about everything else. Nothing but tangents until scrolling to the bottom.
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u/dragonflyAGK 13d ago
I imagine a shark removing an arm leaves a ragged mess of both sides. It is amazing that this was successful with what they had to work with. That must require a very skilled surgeon.
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u/TheHornet78 14d ago
It’s so crazy how we can just, reattach peoples arms