Fishing was 11-year-old Brodie Dituri’s favorite hobby. But while visiting a Marion County fishing camp last month, he lost his right hand to an alligator attack — which could have been worse if his father had not tackled the beast.
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Now, after having returned home to Mifflintown, a small town in the center of Pennsylvania, Brodie faces a long recovery as he adapts to life without his hand and works to relearn how to do his other great love: play baseball.
“The fact that Brodie was able to survive is a testament to his father and to him … it’s unreal,” said Andrew Wright, the boy’s uncle.
Wright said Brodie was fortunate to survive, especially as another gator attack in Central Florida the next day was fatal.
“The recovery for Brodie, not just physically but mentally, is going to be a long road for him,” he said of the preteen. “It’s a complete shift of everything that he’s ever known at 11 years old…absolutely gut wrenching.”
Brodie and his father had come to Florida on vacation and visited Nelson Fish Camp on June 27. The boy had just caught a fish and was releasing it back into the water when a nearly 9-foot-long alligator swam out from under the dock he was on and bit his hand, according to Wright.
His father jumped onto the alligator and tried to pry its mouth open, causing the animal to roll around, further tear Brodie’s hand and break the boy’s arm. While the boy was eventually freed, his right hand had to be amputated at the wrist after two surgeries.
Brodie’s mother flew down from Pennsylvania to be with him in the hospital. The family flew back home over the July 4th weekend, Wright said.
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“He’s been doing great. Very determined to do stuff on his own without help,” Wright said. “Since being out of the hospital [there’s been] a big shift in him to be a lot more determined and a lot more positive.”
Wright has organized a GoFundMe page to support him, saying he’s grateful for the response it has already received from the community. As of Monday it had raised over $17,000 of its $25,000 goal.
The gator that attacked Brodie was later captured and euthanized.
Brittany Clark, 31, of Orlando, was killed by an alligator the following day at the Little Big Econ State Forest in Seminole County. Wright said his heart goes out to Clark’s family.
A medical examiner’s report released Monday said an alligator grabbed Clark by her arm and began a “death roll.” Clark’s boyfriend grabbed the alligator when it took them both underwater, releasing Clark for a moment then grabbing her other arm.
The boyfriend got her to shore when the alligator finally let go, after which the boyfriend began CPR on Clark. She was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she arrived with a “thready” pulse, quickly “coded” again and was pronounced dead just after arrival.
The report noted that bite marks on Clark were consistent with a row of teeth from a 12-foot-long alligator authorities recovered from near the area of the attack.
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