Many who enter the ocean fear sharks. For 10-year-old Dillon Armijo, those fears came to fruition during a recent spring break trip to Cancun, Mexico with his family. Until the encounter with the shark, the vacation was an incredible, action-packed trip the family says. They’d been zip lining, swimming through caves, and playing at the beach.
On the last day, Armijo and his brother were splashing around in knee-deep water when a shark latched onto his leg.
“I was very scared,” says Armijo. “I didn’t think I’d live. It just felt like a bump, a really sharp bump. My brother dragged me onto the sand and my mom and other people brought me up onto a chair and they put a tourniquet on my leg.”
“I heard him scream,” says his mother. “That moment is the most overwhelming thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. It was terrifying. I didn’t know how bad it was. As a mom, I was helpless.”
Armijo was rushed to a nearby hospital. Four days later, he was airlifted to his home state of Colorado where he underwent three surgeries. The tendons on either side of his knee were gone and he had suffered a lot of nerve damage in his foot. Armijo will have a drop foot, but he will still be able to do all of the things he loves.
“I feel really happy knowing I’m going to be able to play again,” says Armijo. “I think I will go back in the ocean eventually.”
“He’s brave and he’s strong and if he wants to go back in the ocean, I think that’s fantastic,” says Armijo’s mom.
