PANAMA CITY, Florida (CNN) -- A 16-year-old Tennessee boy was in critical but stable condition Tuesday a day after he was attacked by a shark in the Gulf of Mexico, forcing doctors to amputate his right leg.
Craig Adam Hutto, of Lebanon, Tennessee, was fishing with his brother on a sandbar about 60 yards off Cape San Blas when he was bitten about 11:30 a.m. Monday, said Gulf County government spokeswoman Paula Pickett.
"We went to the operating room with the idea that we would do anything we could to salvage the limb," said Dr. Glenn Summers of Bay Medical Center in Panama City. "However, it became apparent pretty early on there were not enough structures there to reconstruct in order to have viable limb, and the decision was made at that point to amputate."
Summers said Hutton has "done well since the surgery."
"Barring anything unforeseen, which is the great mystery in this business, his prognosis is excellent in the long term," he said.
A second surgery later Tuesday morning would be a "second look" at the effects of the attack, Summers said.
Summers said Hutto is weeks away from being released from the hospital and months away from rehabilitation. Hutto could be transferred to a facility closer to his Tennessee home, the doctor said.
"He's still at extreme risk for infection, but his prognosis is excellent because he is young and healthy," he said.
The attack on Hutto was the second along the Florida Panhandle in three days. On Saturday, a 6-foot bull shark attacked and killed 14-year-old Jaime Daigle of Gonzales, Louisiana, about 95 miles northwest of Cape San Blas at Miramar Beach.
Source For Full Article : http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/06/28/shark.attack/index.html
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