Spencer, 16, surfing off Old Airport Beach on the west side of the island of Hawaii, had been struck from beneath by a tiger shark. The initial impact slammed his board against his head hard enough to produce a bruise that lasted for weeks. In a moment the shark had hold of Spencer. "The shark had my elbow in his mouth," he says, recalling how he was dragged underwater. "I thought my arm was gone. Then I popped up, and it was still there." Still there too was his surfing buddy Bala Clark, 14, screaming at Spencer to paddle ashore and yelling at onlookers on the beach to call 911. "He's my best friend," says Clark. "I would never leave him."
Clark wasn't the only one to stick by Spencer. Once locals found out that he didn't have health insurance, Clark's stepfather, Garret Wykowski, 53, set up a fund that has raised about $10,000 in contributions. Shriners Hospital for Children in Honolulu offered to foot some of the bills, and state medicaid agreed to pick up all acute trauma care, including the initial emergency surgeries. Even a producer of Baywatch Hawaii, shot on location, came to his aid. To keep Spencer's spirits up, Craig Kwasizur gave him a walk-on part in an episode scheduled to air in May. "We want him back in the water," says Kwasizur. "The rest is in God's hands—and the doctors'."
Following three preliminary operations in which veins and skin grafts from his legs were used to repair his arm, Spencer underwent a near six-hour procedure on Dec. 15 to reattach severed nerves. He still faces two years of rehabilitation and will be badly scarred for life. "Full recovery is overly optimistic," says Dr. Paul Faringer, one of the boy's surgeons. "But the human body is not predictable. Miracles happen."
Those closest to Spencer would argue that he's due. His mother, Rose Singarella, 43, says that throughout his ordeal, Spencer worried as much about her as about himself. "He told me, 'It's okay,' " says Singarella of Spencer's reaction once he left the emergency room. Spencer's father, Terence, 41, says his son is always "thinking of us. Even if he has a handicap from this attack, he'll make it work."
That's just what the Baywatch Hawaii cast thought when they met Spencer Nov. 23. "He's a brave boy," said star Jason Mamoa, a local himself. Echoed model-turned-actor Michael Bergin: "It's a privilege. He's been through so much, and he has such spirit." Nervous at first, Spencer warmed quickly to attention paid to him by Brandy Ledford and Brooke Burns. For his walk-on he stood in a crowd next to the bikini-clad Ledford. "I don't know what to say," he said, grinning. "Yeah, this is fun."
And he is an expert in fun, having been involved with water sports virtually all his life and surfing for the past three years. "If I'm not in school," says Spencer, "I'm in the water." Until three years ago he lived with Terence, a woodworker and draftsman, and Singarella, a gourmet vegetarian chef, in Hilo, on the east side of the island. When his parents divorced in 1996 after 13 years of marriage, Spencer remained with his mother. In the midst of the recent tragedy, mother and son moved again when their condo became a time-share. Spencer has also missed a lot of school. "I finally do well in class," says the A and B student, "and I get bit."
According to island officials he isn't the only one. Less than two months after Spencer's incident a 51-year-old woman was severely bitten, 15 miles from where he was attacked.
Spencer vows he'll steer clear of Old Airport Beach from now on. But that's not going to keep him out of the water. "The stupid shark saw me and wanted a taste. I was just in the right place at the wrong time," he says. "I'm going to get healed. I'm going to surf again."
Nick Charles
Jeannie McCabe on Hawaii
- Contributors:
- Jeannie McCabe.
