10-year-old boy describes how he survived shark attack (2024)

A 10-year-old Colorado boy is looking forward to being able to walk again after being bitten by a shark while vacationing with his family in Mexico.

Dillon Armijo and his parents said they were vacationing in Cancun earlier this month when the shark attack occurred.

On the last day of the family's trip, Dillon and his older brother were playing in knee-deep water at a local beach when a shark latched onto his leg.

"It just felt like a bump, like a really sharp bump ... just like a big wave that hit me," Dillon told "Good Morning America." "And I just didn't see anything. I just I saw the blood."

Dillon's mom Abby Armijo told "GMA" that she heard her son scream before she saw what happened.

"I heard him scream first," she said. "That moment is the most overwhelming thing I've ever experienced in my life."

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After the attack, Dillon's brother, as well as a bystander and a nearby lifeguard, jumped into action.

"My brother dragged me onto the sand," Dillon said, adding that his mom and other bystanders then also jumped in to help. "They put me on a chair and the tourniquet on my leg."

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Dillon was then rushed to a nearby hospital, according to Armijo.

"It was terrifying. I didn't know how bad it was," she said. "Just as a mom, I was helpless, and that's a horrible, horrible feeling."

After four days in the local hospital in Mexico, Dillon was airlifted to a hospital in Colorado.

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Dillon's parents said they didn't "fully understand the extent" of their son's injuries until he was treated in Colorado. In total, Dillon underwent four surgeries.

"All of the tendons on both sides of his knee were gone. A lot of nerve damage in his feet," Dillon's dad Zach Armijo told "GMA" of his son's injuries. "So he's no longer able to lift his foot. He'll have a drop foot, but he will be able to run and jump and play soccer like normal in time, so that's the best we can hope for."

Dillon is now at home recovering from his injuries.

He added that he's looking forward to being able to return to his normal activities, saying, "I feel really happy seeing and knowing that I'm going to be able to play again."

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The 10-year-old said he also thinks he will go back in the ocean, "eventually."

"He is brave and he's strong," said Abby Armijo. "And if he wants to go back in the ocean, then I think that's fantastic."

MORE: 11-year-old recounts the moment he was bitten by a bull shark: 'I'm happy to be alive'

Neil Hammerschlag, a marine ecologist and founder of Atlantic Shark Expeditions, told "GMA" that beachgoers should know there is a risk of sharks in open ocean water.

"If you're going to get in the water, you have to assume the risk," he told "GMA." "But I think people should take kind of comfort in knowing that a shark bite is extremely rare."

Last year, the United States recorded 41 cases of unprovoked shark bites, the most in the world, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

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On the last day of the family's trip, Dillon and his older brother were playing in knee-deep water at a local beach when a shark latched onto his leg. "It just felt like a bump, like a really sharp bump ... just like a big wave that hit me," Dillon told "Good Morning America." "And I just didn't see anything.

Pirates of the Caribbean actor Tamayo Perry has died after being attacked by a shark while surfing in Hawaii. The 49-year-old died on Sunday afternoon, Honolulu's emergency services confirmed in a press conference.

The incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. local time Monday on Paradise Island, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a news release. The boy was bitten on the right leg by a shark "while participating in an expedition in a Shark Tank at a local resort on Paradise Island," the release said.

Indeed, the great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) leads all other sharks in attacks on people and boats, as well as fatalities. Currently, the great white shark has been connected with a total of 354 total unprovoked shark attacks, including 57 fatalities [source: ISAF].

Great white sharks? Highly unlikely. But lemon sharks have been known to help out humans who are lost or in danger.

Breeder was airlifted to Jackson South Hospital where doctors were able to re-attach Reeder's pinky with more than 100 stitches, a pin, and a cast, according to NBC Miami. “They've got me in a hard cast on the bottom because all four tendons were cut on top,” reportedly told NBC Miami.

Of all the shark's victims, perhaps none are as vividly etched into cultural memory as Alex Kintner (Jeffrey Voorhees): the young boy who wanted an extra 10 minutes in the water during the Amity Independence Day Festival and ended up becoming the shark's second victim.

Professional surfer and lifeguard Tamayo Perry died on Sunday after being attacked by a shark off the coast of Oahu. Perry, who was also an actor and stuntman, was attacked in the early afternoon Sunday while surfing at Malaekahana Beach on Oahu's North Shore. He was 49.

The gills are an extremely sensitive area. for the sharks, so if you're ever in an emergency situation, don't try to punch them in the face.

More than 900 men were thrown to the mercy of the sharks of the Pacific Ocean when their American warship, the USS Indianapolis, was split in two by Japanese torpedoes in July 1945. When rescuers arrived in the spot four days later, they found 579 men dead, with many chewed to pieces by circling sharks.

An accomplished surfer and occasional actor died after sustaining fatal injuries in a shark attack off the island of Oahu in Hawaii, authorities said. Tamayo Perry, 49, was also a professional lifeguard for City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety.

According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), between 1958 and 2016 there were 2,785 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks around the world, of which 439 were fatal.

The Greenland shark is the world's longest living vertebrate. It can live for 400 years—twice the age of the longest-living land animal, the giant tortoise. There could be an individual in the ocean today that was alive during the 1665 Great Plague of London and George Washington's presidential inauguration in 1789.