(WSVN) - A year after an alarming attack, a Florida man who lost his arm in an alligator attack after falling in a pond, is speaking out about the life altering experience and his road to recovery.
In May 2023, a bystander reported the attack that changed Jordan Rivera’s life forever.
“He is conscious. He is screaming right now and we cannot see where the gator is at,” said a 911 caller.
Rivera said all he remembers prior to that moment is using the bathroom near a pond just outside a Port Charlotte bar.
“It was just like a flash,” said Rivera, “and then I was in the hospital.”
Waking up in the hospital, Rivera didn’t realize the 10-foot alligator, later caught by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, had attacked him, let alone what the massive reptile took with it.
“For me to wake up and if something to tell me I have no arm, and that this and then an alligator had gone on me. I was like alligator. The last thing I would have thought of the world.”
Due to his injury, simple tasks have turned into daily struggles, but for Rivera, the losing his arm didn’t mean losing his motivation.
“I do pretty much most things most people do, but maybe a different type of way,” said Rivera, “that’s exactly how i look at it.”
In the video, Rivera showed some of the adjustments he has made. He uses a special-grip steering wheel to drive his car, but when it comes to putting on a belt, what first took him half an hour now takes less than a minute.
It’s a sign of growth as he continues to navigate his new reality.
“I realize that I have one arm, but that doesn’t let me down. I don’t let anything hold me back. I wake up. It’s a new step for me.”
Rivera says he owes his recovery to the support of his friends and family. He says his biggest challenge is finding disability insurance.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.