A man’s story about a grizzly bear attack and what saved him almost feels unreal. Keep reading to know more.
Warning: This article talks about attempted suicide.
The children’s song ‘Baby Shark’ was stuck in a lot of people’s heads for a long time, and for one man, it actually ended up saving his life.
39-year-old Jeremy Evans was being hunted down and was mauled by a giant bear while he was in the Rockies in Alberta, Canada. It was 2017 when Evans had stopped to watch some sheeps grazing when he noticed a cub nearby. He then heard a branch snap nearby, and his attention was diverted to a 300lb grizzly bear, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.
In an interview about the incident, he explained: “She pulled her paw across my face from the bottom left hand corner, all the way towards the right side and removed my whole face in one swoop, my nose, my right ear, everything.”
He went on to describe the horrific attack, saying, “She started chewing on the left back corner of my head like a dog gnawing on a bone. And then she just started ripping and tearing everything off.”
He was badly injured and tried to take his own life with his rifle, but it did not go off.
He tried once again, but the gun discharged accidentally, which then missed him narrowly.
He then fell about 200ft into the bottom of a rocky creek. He then took his phone out to say his goodbyes to his family, thinking he would not be surviving this ordeal.
He tried to text his wife, but he did not have any signal, so it did not go through.
He decided to listen to music, and when he pressed shuffle, the song ‘Baby Shark’ came on.
The song gave him the drive to live, as it helped him recall his family and his young daughter, who would listen to the song as part of her bedtime routine.
“I don’t know if it was the song playing on repeat, or just thinking about [my wife and child], but I started to crawl up the drainage on the other side. I managed to crawl up and get back onto the trail,” Jeremy said.
He made his way to an abandoned campsite nearby where he wrote a note explaining what happened to him and began trying to locate a working radio or phone.
He somehow managed to walk back to his car and drove to another resort.
He was eventually airlifted to a hospital where the extent of his injuries was revealed.
Jeremy made the agonising trek back to his car and somehow managed to drive to another resort. He underwent two major surgeries, which both lasted about 13 hours, as medical professionals tried to save his face.
He went on to have five major surgeries and over a dozen minor procedures. Overall, he received 1,000 sutures and 1,000 staples.
Jeremy recalled, “My left eye was hanging out of the socket. It was facing down. In order to really see, I either had to lift up my eye or lean my head way back… I remember feeling my face and nothing felt the same. My jaw was hanging down on the left side and all my teeth were exposed.”
Apart from his physical injuries, he also suffered from PTSD after he was attacked.
Evans has been hoping to raise awareness for PTSD and also raise $5 million to go towards PTSD research. He wrote a book called Mauled which was about his experience.
“When you set mini goals, you can achieve incredible things,” he said.
“Family comes first. [And] asking for psychiatric help is not a sign of weakness. It’s a strength. I mean, guys are always supposed to be all tough and look after the family. But when you’re not mentally fit, you can’t do that. So ask for help.”
This is such an inspiring story of how something ordinary can be the difference between life and death at times. Share this amazing story with others who might appreciate it.
