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Author Topic: Stingray jumps aboard boat and stabs Lighthouse Pt man, 81  (Read 5618 times)
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sharon
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« on: October 19, 2006, 07:45:44 AM »

Shocked  Shocked  Shocked  Shocked


http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-cstingray19oct19,0,3579615.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

Stingray jumps aboard boat and stabs Lighthouse Point man, 81, in chest

By Sofia Santana and Brian Haas
South Florida Sun-Sentinel and sun-sentinel.com
Posted October 19 2006, 7:04 AM EDT

 
A Lighthouse Point man underwent open-heart surgery late Wednesday after he was stabbed in the chest by a spotted eagle ray that leapt onto his boat..

James Bertakis, 81, was reported in critical but stable condition on Thursday morning at Broward General Medical Center. Sarah Howley, spokesman for the North Broward Hospital District, said a more detailed update would be issued later.
 
The accident occurred while retired developer Bertakis was with two of his adult granddaughters on a cruise Wednesday to look at waterfront mansions in Lighthouse Point.

When the stringray landed in the boat, Bertakis tried to push it back in the water, and that's when he was stabbed, relatives said.

The freak occurrence brought to mind the stingray attack that killed "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin and left Bertakis' family in disbelief, said one of Bertakis' granddaughters, from her Gross Pointe, Mich. Home Wednesday night.

One of Bertakis' other granddaughters described the injury Wednesday night: "Every time his heart pumps, it's like a razor blade, it just keeps cutting," said Catherine Bertakis, from her Grosse Pointe, Mich. home.

The stinger also pierced James Bertakis' lung, said son John Bertakis, from his office at the family business in Roseville, Mich. "Initially it seemed all right, but he lost a lot of blood," he said.Some relatives were standing vigil at the hospital, relaying details back to relatives in Michigan, where the family owns Bertakis Development Inc. James Bertakis in 1972 founded the company, which specializes in manufactured homes and has property in Michigan and Texas

"We're all in a state of shock right now," John Bertakis said. "We hope health and strength are on his side, he's a strong man."

Catherine Bertakis described her grandfather as an athlete who rarely gets sick.

"He lives in this 35-year-old body," she said. "He should live to be 120 years old."

James Bertakis was conscious after the attack and, with the help of his granddaughters, steered the boat back to his Lighthouse Point home in the 3800 block of Northeast 30th Avenue, where one of them called 911.

Firefighters and police found Bertakis with a foot-long barb in the left side of his chest.

"He was in pain from the toxins," said Lt. Mike Sullivan of the Lighthouse Point Fire Department.

Firefighters initially took Bertakis to North Broward Medical Center in Deerfield Beach, but hours later he was flown to Broward General in Fort Lauderdale for more treatment. Sarah Howley, Broward General hospital spokeswoman, said Bertakis was listed in critical condition.

The stingray, which was about 5-feet wide, died on the boat, firefighters said. They kept it in a plastic bag and on ice until Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Officers could pick it up late Wednesday, Sullivan said.

In his 23 years with the fire department, he had never heard of such a stingray attack in Lighthouse Point.

Irwin, the popular, telegenic naturalist from Australia, died Sept. 4 after a similar rare accident. A stingray barb pierced him in the heart while he was filming on the Great Barrier Reef.

Carl Luer, senior scientist at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, who studies sharks and rays, said spotted eagle rays often jump completely out of the water, although no one is sure why. "It can be very dramatic," he said.

But certainly this ray had no aggressive intentions toward the boat, he said.

"That's a very unusual accident," Luer said. "I've never heard of an eagle ray jumping into a boat before. But I can tell you it was not trying to jump into the boat. It was a pure accident."

Florida waters harbor four species of rays that have barbed tails: Atlantic stingrays, southern stingrays, spotted eagle rays and cownose rays. Anyone who encounters one, whether in a boat or any place else, should not touch it to avoid getting stung, he said.

"The best thing to do is to not try to handle it," Luer said.
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snoopy
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« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2006, 08:12:58 AM »

Shocked  Shocked  Shocked  Shocked   Holy cow!!
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Frijole
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« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2006, 09:18:41 AM »

WOW Sharon!  That one struck home.  I lived in Lighthouse Point for 6 yrs - lovely place.  Cannot imagine that happening.  Poor guy... keep us posted on his condition please.  He must be one strong 80+ yr old!
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« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2006, 11:39:57 AM »

Quote from: "Frijole"
WOW Sharon!  That one struck home.  I lived in Lighthouse Point for 6 yrs - lovely place.  Cannot imagine that happening.  Poor guy... keep us posted on his condition please.  He must be one strong 80+ yr old!


 Shocked  Shocked

When it broke on the news last night, I was flabbergasted.

I don't know the last time you've been in Lighthouse Pt Frijole -- but it has changed a lot in the 19 years I've been in South Florida.

All of the waterfront property is now very 'upscale' -- and home to many executives with boats. It's not the sleepy little unpretentious town it was when I first moved here.
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« Reply #4 on: October 19, 2006, 11:42:57 AM »

Not much of an update, but here's the article from the Miami Herald.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/front/15793138.htm

Posted on Thu, Oct. 19, 2006

ANIMAL ATTACK

Stingray injures Broward boater in 'freak accident'In what experts say is an extremely rare attack, a stingray jumped out of the water onto a boat and stuck its barb into the chest of a Broward County man.

BY KATHLEEN McGRORY
kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com

Man stung by ray undergoes heart surgery

James Bertakis hopped into his 16-foot jet boat and headed out on the Intracoastal to enjoy a warm October afternoon on the water. Keeping him company was his grown granddaughter and one of her friends.

But as they were returning to Bertakis' home, the unthinkable happened: A silvery stingray leaped out of the water, slid across the bow of the boat and stuck the 81-year-old grandfather, leaving a toxic foot-long barb lodged in his chest.

Early today, Bertakis remained in critical but stable condition at Broward General Medical Center, where doctors discovered the barb had punctured his heart. He underwent heart surgery just after 10 p.m. Wednesday, hospital officials said.

He had been airlifted to Broward General from North Broward Medical Center, where doctors had removed part of the barb, hospital officials said.

''It was a freak accident,'' said Lighthouse Point acting fire Chief David Donzella, whose officers first responded to the call. ``It's very odd that the thing jumped out of the water and stung him. We still can't believe it.''

A LEISURELY CRUISE

The unwelcome guest -- a young spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of no more than three feet -- thrust itself aboard the boat about 1 p.m., when Bertakis and his granddaughter had finished cruising the canals.

''He said it just flew into the boat,'' said Lt. Mike Sullivan, a Lighthouse Point firefighter who responded to the scene. Sullivan said Bertakis may have been trying to pick up the ray and throw it overboard when it stung him.

After the fish stuck its barb into him, Bertakis' granddaughter and her friend took the helm of the boat and dashed home.

When paramedics arrived at the family's Northwest 30th Avenue home, Bertakis was lying on the living room floor, conscious and breathing.

En route to North Broward Medical Center, paramedics said he complained of excruciating pain.

At the hospital, an x-ray showed part of the stingray's barb remained in the man's chest. He also suffered from a closed chest wound and a collapsed lung, Lighthouse Point fire rescue officials said.

Surgeons at North Broward were able to remove some of the barb but were unable to locate the rest and feared it might have migrated.

Some family members waited anxiously at the hospital, praying for Bertakis. Others, including at least two of Bertakis' four sons, were home in the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., when they heard the news.

John Bertakis, 47, spoke of his father's fondness for boating and outdoor sports, and his love of family.

Meanwhile, Lighthouse Point fire officials recovered the ray from the boat and were keeping it in a garbage bag at the station house. It took two firefighters to remove the slippery fish from the vessel. They estimated it weighed 30 pounds.

Experts say it is not unusual for a stingray to jump out of the water, but that attacks are rare.

Ellen Pikitch, a professor of marine biology and fisheries at the University of Miami, who has been studying rays for decades, said the fish are generally docile creatures.

''Something like this is really, really extraordinarily rare,'' she said. ``I've never heard any reports of a stingray attacking a person. Even when they are under duress, they don't usually attack.''

TOXINS CAUSE PAIN

She said a stingray's barb is sharp and shaped like ''an old-style fish hook'' with multiple little blades. The toxin, kept in a little sac at the base of the barb, causes the victim to feel intense pain.

Stingray attacks made headlines last month when a ray off Australia's north coast killed Steve Irwin, the TV personality and conservationist known as the ''Crocodile Hunter.'' Irwin, 44, was filming an underwater documentary and apparently frightened the animal. Its barb punctured his heart.

It was one of a handful of stingray fatalities ever recorded, experts said.
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« Reply #5 on: October 19, 2006, 12:08:16 PM »

I declare this is starting to remind me of the movie the Birds ????  Shocked
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« Reply #6 on: October 19, 2006, 12:14:03 PM »

Quote from: "sharon"
Quote from: "Frijole"
WOW Sharon!  That one struck home.  I lived in Lighthouse Point for 6 yrs - lovely place.  Cannot imagine that happening.  Poor guy... keep us posted on his condition please.  He must be one strong 80+ yr old!


 Shocked  Shocked

When it broke on the news last night, I was flabbergasted.

I don't know the last time you've been in Lighthouse Pt Frijole -- but it has changed a lot in the 19 years I've been in South Florida.

All of the waterfront property is now very 'upscale' -- and home to many executives with boats. It's not the sleepy little unpretentious town it was when I first moved here.


Sharon,  I just moved 3 yrs ago so I was very much aware of the mansions.  Best investment I ever made was buying that house.  Loved that town too.
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sharon
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« Reply #7 on: October 19, 2006, 12:36:14 PM »

Quote from: "Frijole"

Sharon,  I just moved 3 yrs ago so I was very much aware of the mansions.  Best investment I ever made was buying that house.  Loved that town too.


 Very Happy

Exactly how I feel about buying our house in Coconut Grove 13 years ago. I 'pat' it every night and refer to it as 'our retirement' Laughing

I would have sold ours 3 years ago too --but there was no place to move to. Unless we were ready to leave the area. And we're not quite ready yet.
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« Reply #8 on: October 19, 2006, 12:37:52 PM »

Quote from: "nonesuche"
I declare this is starting to remind me of the movie the Birds ????  Shocked


Or the one with the 'sharks' Shocked  I think it was called 'The Deep'.
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« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2006, 01:14:47 PM »

Quote from: "sharon"
Quote from: "Frijole"

Sharon,  I just moved 3 yrs ago so I was very much aware of the mansions.  Best investment I ever made was buying that house.  Loved that town too.


 Very Happy

Exactly how I feel about buying our house in Coconut Grove 13 years ago. I 'pat' it every night and refer to it as 'our retirement' Laughing

I would have sold ours 3 years ago too --but there was no place to move to. Unless we were ready to leave the area. And we're not quite ready yet.


Yes - indeedy - you have a primo area also.  Used to love to go down there and play!
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« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2006, 04:44:48 PM »

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/15799056.htm

Posted on Thu, Oct. 19, 2006
Surgeon: Stingray victim 'a lucky man'
BY KATHLEEN McGRORY
kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com

The 82-year-old Lighthouse Point grandfather who was struck by a stingray was in critical but stable condition today after surgeons at Broward General Medical Center removed a six-inch toxic barb from his heart.

''As long as we don't have any problems, God willing, he'll survive this,'' said Dr. Eugene Costantini, a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon at Broward General. ``He's a lucky man.''

James Bertakis was on the Intracoastal Waterway about 1 p.m. Wednesday when the spotted eagle stingray jumped into his 16-foot boat. The ray was airborne when it struck him, family members said.

Bertakis' granddaughter and her friend took the helm of the boat and dashed home.

The ray's sharp barb originally punctured Bertakis' lung, but doctors said Bertakis' labored breathing caused it to migrate. The barb entered Bertakis' heart through the left ventricle and later penetrated the opposite wall.

Bertakis was first treated at North Broward Medical Center, then airlifted to Broward General's cardiovascular intensive care unit. Surgeons there were able to completely remove the barb.

''He's 82 years old and he's had a lot of surgery in two days,'' Costantini said. ``We expect there to be some bumps in the road.''

Family members flew in from the Detroit area to be with Bertakis. They said they couldn't believe what happened.

''He's a fighter and he's going to get through it,'' said Bertakis' son, Jim Bertakis. ``With God's blessing, he's going to get through it.''

Stingrays are considered to be docile creatures that rarely attack humans, experts say
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« Reply #11 on: October 19, 2006, 08:18:49 PM »

I can't believe that the man is still alive!
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« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2006, 03:20:43 PM »

http://tinyurl.com/y33xpw

Posted on Mon, Oct. 23, 2006

LIGHTHOUSE POINT

Stingray victim improves but remains in critical condition
A Lighthouse Point man struck by a stingray last week is still critical but appears to be getting better.

BY BREANNE GILPATRICK
bgilpatrick@MiamiHerald.com

The health of an 81-year-old Lighthouse Point man struck by a stingray Wednesday appears to be improving, his son said Sunday.

James Bertakis remained in critical condition Sunday evening, but his blood pressure has been steady, his heart rate was strong and he showed no signs of infection from surgeries following the strike, his oldest son Michael Bertakis said.

And although his father still cannot speak, he has begun responding to simple commands from family members.

''That's the largest of all the improvements,'' Michael Bertakis said. 'We would talk to him and we would say, `If you can hear us, blink.' And he blinks.''

James Bertakis was on his 16-foot jet boat on the Intracoastal Wednesday afternoon when a spotted eagle stingray leaped from the water onto the bow of his boat. The stingray then collided with Bertakis, leaving its toxic barb lodged in the man's chest.

Bertakis was treated at North Broward Medical Center for a collapsed lung but was airlifted to Broward General Medical Center's cardiovascular center after doctors discovered extensive damage to his heart, including a pierced left ventricle.

He underwent surgery there about 10 p.m. Wednesday. Doctors removed the barb and repaired the puncture wounds.

Doctors later removed James Bertakis' spleen, after complications from the earlier surgery.

At least one of James Bertakis' four sons has stayed with him since the accident, which has attracted national attention. And family members credit James Bertakis' improvements to the doctors at Broward General, including Dr. Eugene Costantini, a cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon.

''They've been nothing short of phenomenal,'' Michael Bertakis said.

But despite James Bertakis' improvements, family members remain cautious.

''We try to be optimistic and try to be positive,'' Michael Bertakis said. ``But we still have to understand that he's not totally out of the woods.''
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