MIAMI (WSVN) - A Texas man continues his recovery at a South Florida hospital after he was struck by a boat while snorkeling with his family on a vacation to the Bahamas.
Brent Slough, 42, took his family on a dream vacation to the Bahamas last month. The trip turned into the family’s worst nightmare with Brent fighting for his life ever since.
On June 30, while Brent was snorkeling just off the shore near the island, a speeding boat ran him over and never stopped.
Speaking with 7News on Wednesday, Brent said it’s a miracle he survived.
“I just feel lucky to be alive,” he said.
He described the moment the boat struck him.
“I just felt something hit me on my left side and I recall hitting something kind of hollow, like, twice, thump, thump,” said Brent.
He said he realized part of his body wasn’t responding as he attempted to get back to shore.
“I tried a sidestroke and I realized that my left leg wasn’t working properly and I felt something kind of, like, dangling from my backside,” said Brent.
His wife, Whitney, and their two daughters watched it all happen and jumped in to help.
“I could see the blood, you know, dripping underneath and just people’s reactions,” said Brent.
With some help from some bystanders on the beach, they managed to strap Brent into a beach chair and drove him to a clinic.
The impact with the boat nearly cut Brent in half, sending him to the hospital fighting life-threatening injuries. His family rushed to get him back to a hospital in the U.S.
A day later, he was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital Ryder Trauma Center. So far, he’s undergone two surgeries, which his family said has helped his condition slowly improve.
“He is doing OK after that surgery so we are now trying to figure out our plan of when we can get transferred to Dallas and what that looks like,” said Whitney.
“Just, like, these deep wounds and it covers both sides of my buttocks and just around that area. I have a fractured pelvis and a fractured fibula over on the left side and just some minor cuts,” Brent said, describing some of the injuries he suffered.
While Brent has been recovering for the past three weeks, Whitney has had to juggle traveling between Texas and Miami to take care of their children.
She’s also been pressuring Bahamian authorities to criminally charge the occupants of the boat that struck Brent.
Officials in the Bahamas have identified three men who were in custody briefly before being released.
“What I should really say about this, but I feel like the more people that are calling them, the better, to keep this front and center, so they really pursue criminal charges against these men that did this to Brent,” said Whitney. “I want justice for Brent.”
For Brent, he said his strength ever since this happened is coming from his family and his faith.
“Relying on God, and we also reached out to people and asked for prayers and they prayed for us, too, and I think that’s been really impactful and given us strength and peace,” he said.
Friends of the family have set up a GoFundMe to help raise money to cover Brent’s medical expenses, including his eventual flight to get back to Texas.
If you would like to donate to help Brent and his family, click here.
“I remember, I feel like, 100 percent of it,” Brent said.
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