Barracuda bite of the Charleston man emphasizes boat risks

Charleston, SC (toilet) – A shocking encounter of a Marleston man with a Barrakuda during a trip to the maiden islands last May serves as an unusual but timely memory of boat safety concerns, as more people go to water for summer.

Bradley McQueen and his long -time friend Rusty Day was on a diving trip near St. John when the incident took place.

“I had the bowl in my hand and just opened it and tried to get all these butter out of the bowl,” McQueen recalled. “And when I did it, there was suddenly a pop and a barracuda came up and hit the bowl with my thumb in the bowl.”

The fish bit immediately through its thumb.

“I started screaming,” said McQueen. “At this point, so much blood was in all directions. I was not sure how much thumb I was left.”

Day, a diving captain and biologist, was in another part of the catamaran and initially thought, McQueen joked.

“He screamed and I thought he was just keeping around,” said Day. “I went outside to see what kind of gimmicks were going on and there was a lot of blood from Brad's hand. So I thought I would have an amusing scene and instead it was a kind of slaughter.”

The couple raced towards St. Thomas and band at a marina after hours. But in the emergency room, McQueen faced a new challenge: the pain of the stitches.

“I've never had so much pain in my whole life,” he said. “I don't know how often [the doctor] Put a shot in my finger, but he just couldn't do it deaf. “

The hospital also lacked antibiotics and advised McQueen to wait before visiting a specialist. Then he called Dr. Kyle Kokko, a hand surgeon with Novant Health in Charleston and a friend of Days.

“He couldn't bend his thumb, so I thought that was a tendon,” said Kokko. “He was not quite sure whether he could feel or not. [That’s] Probably a nerve. It is very important to treat this urgently. “

McQueen flew home the next day and was operated on within a few days.

“[It was a] Quite ugly injury, “said Kokko.” The palm side of his thumb was pretty chewed. Here most of the teeth on the Barracuda really got him. The tendon was simply not attached. It just stuck and he wouldn't bend it. “

The recovery of McQueen took months of physiotherapy.

“You don't know how much you need your thumb until you don't have your thumb,” he said.

McQueen still doesn't have a full freedom of movement, but after he has scraped 50 pounds by hand, he feels close.

“Then I realized that I was fully in full operation,” said McQueen. “I feel good about what Doc could do for me. I am lucky enough to have my thumb. [The barracuda] could easily have lost my entire thumb. “

Barrakudas live in Lowcountry, and while Barracuda bites are rare, Kokko said that the boat injuries are generally not in summer.

“It could be something, for example from falling into flat water, falling into an oyster bed or docking the boat between the boat and the dock or the injuries to propellers,” he said.

Day, who teaches the students through the non -profit Manta Marine Science, said that the ocean was as dangerous as beautiful.

“The natural world is very unpredictable,” he said. “Just as people are unpredictable, animals are unpredictable. Keep your eyes open. Keep your ears open and pay attention to it.”

McQueen is already planning his next trip to the islands and is not afraid of Barracudas, but he changes the way he makes dishes.

“I should have known better,” he said. “I should have dipped this bowl in the water, leaving and simply cleaning it in the kitchen instead of shaking up and doing what I did.”

He is grateful for the result. As for the Barrakuda, he and the day let go.

“There are only two of us and this Barracuda army is quite large,” said McQueen. “Let's just leave this barracuda alone and we don't start war.”

Kokko advises the boat drivers to be safe by staying away from docking areas, switching off the engine when getting in, and immediately looking for medical help because of an injury, especially in or around water, where bacteria can quickly lead to serious infections.

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