Dina Spann has described the aftermath of a devastating alligator attack with remarkable determination after losing her left arm in the Florida incident.
The 58-year-old retiree had visited the Silver River in Marion County with her family for a boating trip on August 5.
Spann was swimming with two teenage relatives in an area where swimming is prohibited when a 9-foot alligator suddenly attacked her, according to The New York Post.
She fought desperately to survive, but the attack resulted in the loss of her left forearm and her right ring finger.
In a Facebook update shared about a week after the incident, Spann acknowledged the difficult road ahead. “Recovery isn’t always pretty,” she wrote. “But I’m learning to laugh through the hard parts and celebrate every little victory.”
A video showed Spann arriving at the hospital in a kaftan, undergoing an X-ray and meeting with members of her medical team.
Her amputated left arm was heavily bandaged, while stitches were visible on her injured right hand.
Despite the life-changing injuries, Spann remained defiant, writing: “The gator got a piece of me. It didn’t get the best of me.”
Dina Spann was enjoying a family outing on Florida’s Silver River when an alligator attacked her, leaving her without her left forearm and right ring finger
Spann’s son, Zach Guerrina, told The New York Post that his mother first tried to fend off the alligator with a stick.
Guerrina said her arm was left “hanging by a thread” during the brutal encounter.
He also said Spann used her hands to fight back while attempting to shield the nearby teenagers from the animal.
“She wasn’t just letting it happen,” he 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.”
Guerrina described the attack as a “crazy situation,” but said his mother remained “just as calm as a f**king cucumber.”
Zach Guerrina said his mother fought the alligator and tried to protect the two teenagers swimming nearby
John Gamache and his father were having lunch aboard a nearby boat when they saw the alligator attack unfold.
“It was a terrible injury, bones poking out, blood everywhere. Obviously, the minutes mattered,” Gamache told Fox News.
Gamache said he transported the rest of Spann’s family to the nearest boat launch so she could receive urgent help.
Spann’s son said other people at the scene also stepped in to assist the family after the alligator attack.
‘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.’
Guerrina added that he is very proud of his mom.
‘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 f**king story.’
Spann’s husband urged the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to grant permits for large gators to be removed.
As for the gator that attacked Spann, it was removed and the river was reopened to the public.
The horrific attack comes after a hiker was killed by a huge, 13-foot gator in June.
Brittany Clark was swimming in the Econlockhatchee River at Little Big Econ State Forest in Florida when the alligator attacked her on June 28.
An 11-year-old boy also lost his hand in June after an alligator attack.
Brodie Terry was on a fishing trip with his dad in Marion County when an 8-foot gator struck the kid as he was releasing a fish in the river.
