Cory Workman, 17, of Deland, Fla., had no idea what he was in for the night of July 23, 2006. He and two buddies, T.J. and Brandon, were hanging out on the banks of St. John’s River, about 25 miles outside of town.
Cory had often fished in creeks and rivers, occasionally spotting alligators.
“I was always told gators are more afraid of you then you are of them,” he says.
As Cory dangled his toes in the water, he felt something rip into his ankle.
“It was a piercing pain, worse than anything I ever felt,” he says. A gator more than three times his weight had him. “I punched at it, but the gator wouldn’t let up.”
His friends thought he was joking as he plunged below the surface. “The gator was trying to drown me,” Cory says. He tried prying its jaws apart, but it was no use. “I thought I was gonna die.”
Cory cried out to God: Help me! And then he suddenly remembered something he’d seen on The Discovery Channel:
“I knew I couldn’t hold my breath much longer, so I felt around for his eyes,” he says. With one thrust of Cory’s thumb into the gator’s eye, the beast let go.
Cory’s friends came to the rescue when they realized he wasn’t kidding, applying a tourniquet and hustling him to the hospital.
“I’m just glad they were there. But I’m even more glad that God was with me,” Cory says.
Doctors told Cory that even with surgery, he might lose his leg. But he surprised them.
“I never did have surgery, which is cool,” Cory says. “What’s even cooler is that even though my foot’s numb, I can still walk.”
Cory’s more cautious about where he walks, though.
“You think nothing could ever happen to you, but it can,” he says. “I used to think that too. Now I know I’ve gotta put my faith in God.” 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
What if it happened to you? You can’t control the weather or wildlife, but here’s some info to help you play it safe in the great outdoors.
• Alligators are not—repeat not—more afraid of you than you are of them. They avoid people, but when they’re hungry they’ll attack almost anything. If you see a gator, stay away from the water and give him lots of room.
• Gators drag their prey underwater to drown it. Sometimes they spin, disorienting prey or tearing off a limb.
• As Cory knew, if a gator gets hold of you, jabbing at his eyes is your only hope for making it let go.
• Your best bet for surviving a close encounter with an alligator is to get out of the water and run—zigzag. Gators can run faster than people, but only in a straight line.
—Greg Hartman
