In a strange turn of events, a New England man could very well owe his life to the shark that tried to eat him.
Fitchburg, Massachusetts resident Eugene Finney was on vacation in California in July when a hungry shark took a run at him during a dip in the ocean.
“Something struck me from behind. I’d never been hit like that before. It was pretty jarring. It kind of gave me an instant whiplash,” Finney told CBS Boston.
While he managed to swim to shore with only a nasty cut on his back, he says he was bothered later that day by a nagging pain.
“That night I started having pretty serious chest and back pains,” he said. “The pain was caused by interior bruising of the thoracic cavity due to blunt force trauma.”
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Finney checked himself into St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, where doctors examined his shark-induced wound – and discovered something far worse.
“They had discovered a growth, or a tumour, on my right kidney about the size of a walnut,” Finney said.
Two weeks ago, Dr. Ingolf Tuerk used a minimally invasive robotic surgery to remove the tumour from Finney’s kidney. He won’t need to undergo any chemotherapy or radiation treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.
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As for Finney, he said he’s thankful for the experience.
“I feel fortunate. I really feel like I’ve gotten a second chance at life and I’m not going to blow it,” Finney said.
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