A Florida optometrist was mauled by an 8-foot alligator that clamped onto her arm in a harrowing tug of war that saw her husband pulling on one side and the reptile on the other until she finally broke free.
Amber Perren, 27, praised her spouse’s heroics and now plans to mount the scaly predator’s skull in her office after surviving the vicious Marion County attack that shattered her forearm and left her mangled hand dangling earlier this summer, WPTV reported.
While boating on the St. Lucie River with her husband, Kelby, and their dog, Poncho, Perren stepped into the water to wet her hair when she was suddenly grabbed by the gator and yanked beneath the surface.
“I saw the gator’s head, eye to eye,” the eye doctor said of the July 23 horror.
“My mind was to get away, get away. I was just punching his head, and I was trying to run.”
Hearing his wife’s screams, Kelby jumped into the water and hauled her up, only to find the monstrous reptile still latched onto her right arm, sparking a fierce struggle to save her.
“I pulled her back, the gator pulled back, and I pulled her again, and she came loose,” the valiant husband told the outlet.
He said the gator’s head was about 2 feet long, with its full body stretching roughly 8 feet.
After being freed, Kelby raced his wife to the boat and a nearby dock, where first responders treated her injuries before she was airlifted to a Fort Pierce trauma center.
“The gator got my arm. It broke both bones in my forearm and severed the radial artery,” Perren said.
“My hand was just hanging. I keep saying he’s my hero, and he saved me.”
The Palm City resident has since undergone five surgeries, has had several skin grafts and battles compartment syndrome caused by the increased pressure in her arm, the outlet reported.
While she can wiggle her fingers, her hand remains largely numb — and could face additional surgeries.
As she recovers through occupational therapy and adjusts to running her new eye clinic with her left hand, Perren insists the terrifying ordeal won’t keep her from the water, just not where she was attacked.
“If this showed us anything, it showed us how quickly your life can change in a matter of seconds,” she said.
“So you should go have fun.”
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