Remind us to never go swimming with some friends at Nubbin Slough, a canal near Lake Okeechobee in Florida please. Ever. Because that’s Kasey Edwards, an 18-year-old, was attacked by a wild alligator. Edwards was face to face with the ferocious animal at first, staring for what must have been some of the scariest 10 seconds of his life. The other scariest moments in his life surely encompassed wrestling with the gator, in what Edwards called a “humbling experience.” Why did his “humbling experience” have to rob him of an arm? That just seems egregiously cruel.

According to Edwards, the gator dragged him down five times.

“Finally, (the arm) ripped off and I wasn’t aware at the time. (It) hit me in my stomach and knocked the wind out of me and I dug and took my finger and gouged its eye. It spun and turned around and went away from me. (I) didn’t know I was missing an arm until I was swimming back.”

The alligator was captured with Edwards’ arm still in the stomach, but it was too damaged to be attached.

Edwards seems to be upbeat after a scary, surprising, and unfortunate turn of events. He feels that he owes his life to his friends who brought him ashore and kept him from bleeding to death. Having your arm ripped off by an alligator can seriously damage some people psychologically, so we hope that he goes on to live life as he wants to live it.

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