Gator Aid. (The goodness of America).

Shortly after 10 p.m. on August 18th 14-year-old Edna Wilks and five friends were floating on boogie boards in about five feet of water some 50 yards from shore in Orlando, Florida's Little Lake Conway when an alligator grabbed her left forearm and pulled her under. She began screaming, then heard a loud "crack" as the large reptile snapped her arm bones and began a "death spin" that gators employ to kill larger prey. Edna later told a reporter for the Associated Press that the gator "was spinning me in the water real fast and jerking me," causing her to think, "This is how I'm going to die. I'm going to drown in a minute."

Suddenly, however, the spin stopped and the gator rose toward the surface. Edna was able to take a deep breath and begin prying its jaws from her arm. Eventually, the animal let go.

Meanwhile, the other youngsters who witnessed the attack fled to shore, with the exception of Amanda Valance, Edna's best friend. Amanda, also 14, told AP that for "five split seconds, I felt like I had to leave," but "I could not do that to her." Instead, she "stayed a couple of feet away throughout the attack. When Edna popped free, she grabbed her and helped her onto a boogie board. Then she pulled the board to shore, as the gator trailed behind." Edna's mother, Nancy, was told of the attack by two boys. She rushed to the scene and was relieved to find that Edna and Amanda had made it to shore. She saw the gator slowly drifting among abandoned boogie boards, and was amazed that her daughter had survived. "Any time you hear about an alligator attack it's usually fatal. I've never heard of anyone being pulled under and spinning and living to tell the tale," she later stated.

Edna was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where she received blood transfusions and treatment for her broken arm, which required surgery to clean debris from the arm muscle. She is convinced that if her friend had not been brave enough to stay and assist her, she would not have survived. "I'm very blessed," she told AP. "I know that I wouldn't be here right now without my friend Amanda. She saved me and she deserves everything in the world." The two have been best friends for nearly three years, "and now she's more than my best friend, she's my hero."