Had not heard anything about Jessie over the last several months. Good to hear
that he is making some progress, however slight in his recovery.


------- Forwarded message follows -------
Apr 12, 2002

Shark Victim Can Say 'Mom,' but Recovery Slight

The Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -
A 9-year-old boy has regained some movement in his right arm that was
reattached after a shark bit it off last summer, and he can say "Mom" but
still cannot speak in sentences, a hospital spokesman says. Jessie Arbogast
has made some progress while recovering at home in Ocean Springs, Miss., but
there have been no major strides, said Mike Burke of Sacred Heart Children's
Hospital in Pensacola. The boy was treated there after the July 6 attack.
"There has been no breakthrough in communication," Burke said Thursday.
"Jessie's father said he notices these slight differences, but to an outsider
it might not seem like much." Jessie's brain was injured due to oxygen
depletion because of extreme blood loss after a 6 1/2-foot bull shark
attacked the boy, then 8, while he playing in the surf at nearby Santa Rosa
Island. His uncle, Vance Flosenzier, of Mobile, Ala., pulled the shark ashore
by its tail. A Gulf Islands National Seashore ranger shot the shark and
another rescuer pulled Jessie's right arm from its gullet with a pair of
tongs. Surgeons at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, where Jessie was taken by
helicopter, reattached the arm. Two days later he was transferred to Sacred
Heart, which has a pediatric intensive care unit. Jessie can bend the arm at
the elbow and move the wrist but not his fingers, Burke said. The shark also
took a chunk out of his right thigh. Jessie is still not strong enough to
walk, but he is trying to take steps, Burke said. Although he continues to
have difficulty communicating, brain scans show no structural damage.
Recovery from oxygen deprivation is gradual and uncertain, according to Dr.
Tim Livingston, a pediatric neurologist who treated Jessie at Sacred Heart.
AP-ES-04-12-02 1220EDT



------- End of forwarded message -------
__
Mike Wallace
Huntsville,Ala