Juan Carlos La Verde of Florida had no idea of the alligator attack that awaited him when he went swimming in Lake Thonotosassa, about twenty miles from Tampa, on August 3^rd. “I always preach mitigated risk, and that day I failed, and it went completely out the window,” La Verde, who goes by JC Defeats, told a local station when recalling how he went into the water without his cap or goggles. JC is a former Air Force veteran who now works as a firefighter and paramedic. He started an organization called Defeat X, which encourages healthy living and exercise to overcome personal struggles. He was in the water that day in preparation for an event for Defeat X and was creating a training video. His drone would end up catching the moment when the 34-year-old ended up swimming into an estimated 12-foot-long alligator.

Although the encounter is very brief in the footage, the damage to JC was extensive. “I was chomped down on this side, like completely,” JC said in his interview. The gator would end up biting down on JC’s head and upper torso area, breaking his jaw and damaging a facial nerve. His wife, Christine, also noted that JC had to have a craniectomy to remove a part of his temporal lobe that was punctured in the attack. In a Facebook post, JC described fighting off the alligator, saying, “God gave me the strength and ability to instantly grab both the upper and lower part of the jaw. I’m not the most flexible person normally, but on this day, somehow I was able grab the tip of her snout and pull. She chomped down again and I felt teeth pierce my skull.” JC was able to get away from the alligator by putting his hand in its mouth and rolling. He was then able to swim himself to shore where a Good Samaritan took him to the hospital. Despite losing a lot of blood, he was able to call 911 on his own and explain what had happened. “I am not going to put extra stress on somebody that is already driving a bloody man somewhere,” he said of the situation. After 6-hour emergency surgery, JC would spend eight days in the hospital for his injuries.

Despite the situation, JC was able to praise God. “If people want to see this any other way than a legit miracle it’s silly to think that. I shouldn’t be alive,” he said. His wife also referred to him as a “walking miracle.” A GoFundMe set up for JC is filled with praises, a note on August 12 saying, “God is so good,” when JC was discharged. Another note on August 15 stated that JC was readmitted to the hospital due to a fall but that he was back at home after some tests. “[JC] is truly resilient and God has a plan for him,” the page noted. In his interview, an emotional JC expressed his dependence on God for the situation, saying, “I am perfectly fine. I am actually even better because this gave me a new perspective, you know, and not many people get that.” He tearfully summed up his feelings, saying, “Find your God. Find Him. It’s silly. I get that that’s scary, I do, but life is a scary place, so you can carry that load by yourself or have someone carry it for you.”