A mother whose arm was torn off by an alligator remained ‘calm as a cucumber’ as relatives and rescuers frantically fought to save her life, her son has revealed.
58-year-old Dina Rae Spann was attacked and dragged underwater while spending the day with her family on Florida’s Silver River on Saturday.
The damage inflicted on her right arm was so severe that it has since been amputated below the elbow, while part of the ring finger on her left hand was also bitten off.
Her son Zach Guerrina said that Dina is still receiving hospital treatment and may need several more operations. Despite everything she has endured, he said she remains in good spirits and has even been making jokes about the incident.
‘She’s not looking at it like, “Oh, my God, I don’t have an arm,” she’s looking at it like, “this is a crazy story”,’ he said. ‘I’m pretty proud of her.’
Zach, 38, had left his mum floating in the river with two teenage relatives and his brother’s girlfriend shortly before the attack.
Dina was at the front of the group when the giant reptile headed towards them.
‘The gator came towards her and she tried to shoo it away with a stick and it attacked her,’ Zach told the New York Post.
He said his mum fought back rather than simply allowing the animal to drag her under.
Dina tried to hold its mouth shut while repeatedly swimming back to the surface for air, while trying to protect her legs.
‘She wasn’t just letting it happen,’ Zach said. ‘She was trying to hold its mouth shut, swimming to the top to get a breath of fresh air and keep it from biting on her legs.’
Paddleboarder Mike Head also tried to fight off the alligator after seeing it travel towards Dina ‘like a missile’.
By the time nearby boater John Gamache arrived, the animal had released her and she was clinging to a paddleboard.
Gamache and his father had been eating lunch on their boat when they heard cries for help. He sped towards the swimmers, with the approaching boat helping to scare the alligator away.
Dina’s bikini top was wrapped around her damaged arm before rescuers reinforced the makeshift tourniquet with anchor rope.
Her son said the limb was left ‘hanging off by a thread’, but his mum somehow remained the calmest person there.
‘They tied up the arm with an anchor rope as well, so it had her bathing suit top and an anchor rope on her right arm, and she was just as calm as a cucumber,’ he said.
Gamache described seeing ‘bones poking out’ and ‘blood everywhere’ as the group pulled Dina aboard.
He and his father also collected the other swimmers before taking them to the nearest boat launch, where emergency workers were waiting.
Swimming is prohibited in the Silver River, although visitors are allowed to boat and kayak there. It’s unclear exactly why Dina and the others entered the water with the ban in place.
Zach thinks that tourists feeding, petting and getting too close to the area’s alligators have made them less wary of people. His claim hasn’t been established or confirmed by anyone as the exact cause of this attack, but he said the animals he encountered while growing up were normally timid.
‘It absolutely causes them to approach, when they feel like there is no threat,’ he said. ‘I grew up camping the Oklawaha with my mom and my dad since I was a kid. We spend almost every other weekend on the water.’
Zach said his family was relieved the younger swimmers escaped without injury. He’s called for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to issue more permits allowing large alligators to be hunted.
Trappers working for the commission caught and removed a 9ft 8in alligator from the area on Sunday. Marion County officials reopened the river once the operation had been completed.
Dina faces further treatment and a lengthy recovery, but her family says she remains very much herself.
‘She lost her right arm and one finger on the left, but she’s strong,’ Zach said. ‘She’s good. She’s making jokes now – she’s just herself.’