I was mauled by a hippo | Life Stories — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00there was the most Almighty bang it was
2. 0:04like a car crash I remember being
3. 0:06grabbed from underneath and taken down
4. 0:09to the bottom of the river and I thought
5. 0:12oh no this isn't good and I thought I
6. 0:15was going to die I thought I was either
7. 0:16going to get chomped or I was going to
8. 0:19drown there was a 9in gash in my abdomen
9. 0:22as well and there was a bite through
10. 0:24this bicep the guide in the front canoe
11. 0:27said he's dead he's dead my name is
12. 0:30Roland Cherry my name is Shirley cherry
13. 0:32and I was attacked by a hippopotamus in
14. 0:35a canoe in June this year and actually I
15. 0:37was in that very same canoe when we were
16. 0:40capsized well I I think you know when
17. 0:42you go on an organized Safari and the
18. 0:44reason for going on an organized Safari
19. 0:46is that you've got professional guides
20. 0:47who are there to a show you the wildlife
21. 0:50but also to keep you in a in a safe
22. 0:52place you do feel confident well we did
23. 0:54certainly in Botswana feel very
24. 0:56confident that we were in good hands and
25. 0:58people who really understood the
26. 0:59environment saying but the thing about
27. 1:02being on Safari is you do have to
28. 1:04acknowledge there are dangerous animals
29. 1:07that can do you serious harm it was all
30. 1:11part of this organized trip and the plan
31. 1:14was to kayak down the kafui onto the
32. 1:17Zambezi and then carry on down the
33. 1:19Zambezi for about another 20 kilometers
34. 1:21or so camp on Elephant Island that night
35. 1:25and then carry on the following day for
36. 1:27another 10 or 15 kilometers and and then
37. 1:30come back up River on a motorboat that
38. 1:32was the plan um surley and I had done
39. 1:35fair amount of canoeing um in France and
40. 1:38in the UK we felt reasonably confident
41. 1:40about our canoe
42. 1:42abilities so yeah so with the canoeing
43. 1:45we were really looking forward to but
44. 1:47you know obviously we felt we will be
45. 1:48you know professionally guided so we
46. 1:51should be okay but um didn't quite turn
47. 1:53out that way we then had a briefing
48. 1:56session by one of the guides who
49. 1:58actually did say
50. 2:00if you do end up in the river um you
51. 2:03need to swim to the bank because if
52. 2:05there are hippos there they will go for
53. 2:06the biggest thing in the water um but he
54. 2:09said that said um you have to take your
55. 2:11chance with the crocodiles which we
56. 2:13didn't really pay much attention to at
57. 2:14the time but it was just there um
58. 2:17because you never think there's any
59. 2:18anything un is going to happen to you we
60. 2:21literally just left Camp about 5 minutes
61. 2:23before we were only about 100 m 150 M
62. 2:27into the canoe trip and then the guides
63. 2:29turn around to Shirley they were in the
64. 2:31first kayak Shirley and I were in the
65. 2:33second kayak and there were three kayaks
66. 2:35behind us and the guide said Shirley
67. 2:38hippo to the right keep to the left and
68. 2:42within a minute there was the most
69. 2:46allmighty bang it was like a car crash
70. 2:49and the hippo had literally come up
71. 2:50under the canoe tipped us up high into
72. 2:53the air and dropped us down and
73. 2:55literally I was in the front of the
74. 2:57canoe so I found myself in the water and
75. 2:59it takes you a moment to actually
76. 3:02process what's going on then you think
77. 3:04my God I'm in the water what's in the
78. 3:06water with me and then people around us
79. 3:08were saying swim you've got to swim to
80. 3:10the bank so I did my best I was able to
81. 3:13set off but meanwhile you were in a
82. 3:15different situation was I was in a
83. 3:16different situation yeah so in in the
84. 3:19impact when the uh hippo came up
85. 3:22underneath the canoe um the side of the
86. 3:25cane must have smashed into my shoulder
87. 3:27cuz um I realized I was in trouble but
88. 3:30we now know that my shoulder dislocated
89. 3:32in the impact I was thrown into the
90. 3:34water as well as shley and I remember
91. 3:38realizing that my my shoulder was in a
92. 3:40bad in a bad way and I was kind of
93. 3:43hanging on to the canoe behind and yon
94. 3:47Swiss friend said Ron you've got to swim
95. 3:50and I said I can't swim I've got a
96. 3:52dislocated shoulder he said you're going
97. 3:54to have to try so I thought okay well
98. 3:56I'll try so I tried a one armed breast
99. 3:59stroke which was never perhaps can be
100. 4:00very successful and then it gets all a
101. 4:02bit vague I remember being grabbed from
102. 4:06underneath and taken down to the bottom
103. 4:08of the river and I thought oh no this
104. 4:11isn't good and I thought I was going to
105. 4:14die I thought I was either going to get
106. 4:15chomped or I was going to drown I was
107. 4:19let go and my life vest was bringing me
108. 4:21back up to the top to the surface again
109. 4:24and I took a huge gulp of air um and
110. 4:28then thereafter I don't have a
111. 4:30recollection what happened but we've got
112. 4:32I accounts from an Australian girl who
113. 4:35was uh in the canoe too behind us that
114. 4:39um um the hippo came and grabbed me um
115. 4:42and she had a very Vivid account of me
116. 4:45in lying horizontal in a lifeless form
117. 4:48she perhaps thought I was already dead
118. 4:50in the in the jaws of the hippo and then
119. 4:52it tossed me like a ragd doll but
120. 4:55fortunately towards the bank um and
121. 4:58that's perhaps my biggest strug luck
122. 5:00that it threw me rather into the middle
123. 5:01of the river but towards the bank to the
124. 5:03shallow water but I fortunately have no
125. 5:06recollection that I must have already
126. 5:08passed out um so I don't have any
127. 5:11haunting memories of actually being in
128. 5:13the jaws of the hippo the guide in the
129. 5:16front canoe said he's dead he's dead and
130. 5:20she actually thought that there were
131. 5:22going to be four fatalities that morning
132. 5:25because the canoe behind us was also
133. 5:26capsized but the two occupants were able
134. 5:29to swim to the bank and actually I
135. 5:32didn't get a clear view of the hippo
136. 5:34either I I looked around to find out
137. 5:36where Roland was and I couldn't see him
138. 5:39anywhere and then I had a sense that he
139. 5:41did break the surface so I think I saw
140. 5:43him then but meanwhile I was calling out
141. 5:46my beloved husband my beloved husband
142. 5:49where is he and send the boat and all of
143. 5:52that so um yes it was pretty traumatic I
144. 5:55recall and I must have come too cuz I
145. 5:57remember sitting in shallow water
146. 5:59looking down at my legs which were a
147. 6:02hell of a state there was lot bits of
148. 6:03Flesh so of sticking out from my torn
149. 6:05jeans and blood on both legs what I
150. 6:08didn't know at the time there was a 9in
151. 6:10gash in my abdomen as well and there was
152. 6:12a bite through this bicep I knew that
153. 6:15this shoulder was dislocated was I was
154. 6:17in a lot of pain but I could hear
155. 6:19Shirley calling my name and then
156. 6:22friendly arms for she grabbed me and
157. 6:24pulled me back uh to the shore and then
158. 6:28this motorboat appeared and they bundled
159. 6:30me into into this motorboat and then we
160. 6:32were and then we were quickly back at
161. 6:34camp and I remember thinking I've got to
162. 6:37stay conscious because I feared that if
163. 6:40I slipped under Consciousness that might
164. 6:42be the last time I did it but they got
165. 6:43me out of the boat and got me into they
166. 6:46laid me across um a row of seats in a
167. 6:49minib buus and then we set off um for
168. 6:52the local town of chundu people in the
169. 6:54driver's seat actually said well let's
170. 6:56take him to the local hospital they just
171. 6:58took my husband straight into uh the
172. 7:02initial Ward and did an assessment of
173. 7:05his injuries they took an x-ray and the
174. 7:08next minute you were rushed into the
175. 7:09theater to operate and clean his wounds
176. 7:12and as it turned out that was absolutely
177. 7:14a life-saving decision so they operated
178. 7:17on me it was about an hour and a quarter
179. 7:19hour and a half after the attack they
180. 7:22said this is all about infection this is
181. 7:23all about sepsis now when they'
182. 7:26ascertained that I had very nasty what
183. 7:28they call Super superficial wounds so
184. 7:31Flesh Wounds but actually amazingly I
185. 7:33didn't have any broken bones um or visal
186. 7:36organ damage so no Artery damage which
187. 7:39is extraordinar they couldn't really
188. 7:40believe how fortunate I'd been I didn't
189. 7:42feel particularly lucky at the time I
190. 7:44have to say but that intervention is
191. 7:46where they cleaned the wounds um and and
192. 7:50sewed me up fairly roughly but good
193. 7:52enough to be um air evacuated out so we
194. 7:56were flown to Johannesburg that
195. 7:59Wednesday afternoon so this is the
196. 8:00following day so I was attacked on the
197. 8:02Tuesday morning about quarter 8 in the
198. 8:04morning so we're now early midaf
199. 8:07afternoon um on the Wednesday they had
200. 8:10to put me in an inflatable stretch
201. 8:12stretcher and then they loaded me into
202. 8:14this little plane got to the milp park
203. 8:17hospital at about halfast 9 on the
204. 8:20Wednesday evening but the next morning
205. 8:22then they took me into theater and that
206. 8:25was the um second operation so first
207. 8:28operation was in Zambia and this is the
208. 8:31uh the next operation um the second of
209. 8:33what turned out to be eight operations
210. 8:36and that was the first intervention by
211. 8:38Dr Venta um who's the plastic surgeon
212. 8:41who then um proceeded to um open up and
213. 8:44clean all the wounds she said uh Mr
214. 8:47Cherry you are a remarkably lucky man
215. 8:51she said you may not feel it right now
216. 8:52but take it for me you are she said if
217. 8:55any of those wounds and your right leg
218. 8:57your left leg your low abdomen had been
219. 9:00four or five mil deeper you had lost one
220. 9:03or both of your legs and had the wound
221. 9:06gone actually into your gut then we
222. 9:08probably couldn't have saved you so over
223. 9:10three weeks I had eight operations eight
224. 9:13General anesthetics before they
225. 9:15ascertained that I was fit enough to fly
226. 9:17home so yeah I was I was a very very
227. 9:20lucky man but I just remember feeling an
228. 9:22overwhelming sense of relief to be back
229. 9:25home in tyo our little village in in
230. 9:28warshire and to and to think mentally
231. 9:31this is where I start to rebuild it
232. 9:33wasn't just a physical recovery it was a
233. 9:35mental recovery as well for both of us
234. 9:38but back in in in England it was really
235. 9:40then a question of of having my wounds
236. 9:43dressed by the
237. 9:45nurses and then we started Physio and I
238. 9:48was determined to try and get as fit as
239. 9:50I could as soon as I could but you know
240. 9:53I'm not a brilliant patient actually the
241. 9:55truth be known because I'm quite
242. 9:56impatient he never complained once all
243. 9:59the time he was in the
244. 10:01hospital which uh given what he went
245. 10:04through and the various Ops and all the
246. 10:06rest of it but no I was very proud of
247. 10:08him very very brave and showed huge
248. 10:11resilience you know I I
249. 10:14am um amazingly grateful for the care
250. 10:17that I had in Johannesburg it all built
251. 10:19on that early intervention that I had
252. 10:21the tendere Mission Hospital in chundu
253. 10:25um and that's the reason why we decided
254. 10:27to do some publicity because we we are
255. 10:29raising money uh to buy an ambulance for
256. 10:33that hospital amazingly this is a this
257. 10:36is a general hospital in a rural town in
258. 10:39Zambia that doesn't have an ambulance
259. 10:41with a new ambulance then hopefully
260. 10:44they'll have the next 10 to 15 years
261. 10:47worth of excellent um coverage um for
262. 10:51all their medical needs we were shown
263. 10:53immense love people have who have very
264. 10:55little who were able to share what they
265. 10:58had um to sort of complete strangers so
266. 11:01it's it was very humbling to be honest a
267. 11:04very humbling experience they treated me
268. 11:06like a fellow tizen and they just G on
269. 11:08and operated and I owe them my life so
270. 11:12that's um that's our way of giving back
271. 11:16look we were in their backyard you know
272. 11:18this was their natural environment um
273. 11:21did we know there were hippos in that
274. 11:22part of the river no we didn't um had we
275. 11:25known I don't think we would have got
276. 11:27anywhere near those canoes the mother
277. 11:29hippo because that's what we think it
278. 11:31was it was a mother hippo with a cal was
279. 11:33probably doing she was just following
280. 11:35her instinct which was a mother's
281. 11:37instinct to protect her Cal she
282. 11:39perceived these uh canoes as a threat to
283. 11:42her canoe we weren't a threat at all but
284. 11:45she didn't know that so you can't hold
285. 11:48that Grudge um I still think they've got
286. 11:50slight attitude issues personally but um
287. 11:53you know it's it's a wild animal and um
288. 11:56you know they if you if you speak to the
289. 11:58guides
290. 12:00and there is one animal that they're
291. 12:02very very wary of and that is the hippo
292. 12:05but that's you know why you go on an
293. 12:06organized Safari so that you have the
294. 12:09guides and the expertise to look after
295. 12:11you so that's what we chose to do no I
296. 12:14don't think we've lost our sense of
297. 12:16wonderlust really um the world is a big
298. 12:18place and it's full of interesting
299. 12:20places and people to visit if you ask me
300. 12:23if I was going to go back on a canoe
301. 12:25Safari I'd probably say
302. 12:27no um so if I was going to go back on
303. 12:30the river it would be in a big boat I
304. 12:32think but no we've still got plans to
305. 12:36explore the world and go and see
306. 12:38interesting places but um I might stay
307. 12:41away from hippos for a good time yet