Rescuers describe efforts to save woman who lost arm to alligator

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A 37-year-old woman is recovering from surgery Tuesday after an alligator bit her arm off over the weekend.
 
Rachael Lilienthal was swimming in the Wekiva River on Saturday when an alligator attacked her and bit off her arm.
 
Witnesses said they saw Lilienthal swimming and then noticed the alligator move toward her. They said she began screaming for help.

Raw: Man describes helping woman after gator attack

Photos: Woman attacked by alligator in Wekiva River

Casey Spencer told Channel 9 that he and his girlfriend were kayaking nearby and rushed to help Lilienthal escape the gator.

"The gator is not moving, just looking at me. (Lilienthal's) looking at me saying, 'Please help me.' My girlfriend is freaking out, asking everybody for help, so my initial response is to start hitting (the gator) with the paddle, trying to hit its eyes," Spencer said.
 
One of those who came to Lilienthal's aid, Joshua Helwig, 19, said he and his girlfriend were canoeing on the river when the heard Lilienthal's screams. 
 
"I just had this overwhelming sense that we had to help her and get her to shore," Helwig said.
 
Helwig said he and his girlfriend were on their way to Wekiva Island when Lilienthal was attacked.
 
"It was almost instinct. When we heard it we knew we had to go over there," he said.
 
Helwig said the found a couple, with their adult daughter and her boyfriend, all in kayaks, trying to help a woman in the water
 
"I looked down and that's when I saw the water all around us was just red," Helwig said.
 
He said he knew they had to get Lilienthal out of the water without flipping their own boats.
 
The group was able to get in injured woman into Helwig's canoe.
 
"That's when I saw her arm had been bitten off right about here," Helwig said, pointing to an area above his elbow.
 
He said they paddled as fast as they could to the emergency rescuers who had arrived.
 
Lilienthal's arm was torn off above her elbow, and she was also bitten on her back and her abdomen, according to officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
 
Lilienthal was rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she underwent surgery.

Helwig, a Florida State University sophomore and an Eagle Scout, said nothing could have prepared him for the experience he had that day.
 
He said he was grateful he was able to help.
 
"It's kind of something that I don't think any of us will ever forget," he said. "I'm just so glad that all of us were there at the right time to help her out."
 
Helwig said Lilienthal's family has already contacted him to tell him she wanted to say thanks.
 
He said what matters most is that Lilienthal is going to be OK.
 
Sunday morning, Wekiva Island officials announced that FWC trappers had captured the 8 foot 9 inch alligator around midnight after setting bait traps.
 
The attack happened in a remote part of the river, near Wekiva Island.

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